'SA experience was crucial'
Bangladesh women's ODI captain Rumana Ahmed was happy about the fact that, despite losing all their matches on the just-concluded South Africa tour, they could at least play five ODIs on the trip.
"We went there (South Africa) to play ODI cricket after a long gap. We played five ODIs this year and don't know when we will next get the chance to play ODI matches. We have the Asia Cup T20 tournament up… not ODIs.
"If you ask me what we gained from this tour, it's the build-up of experience. They [South Africa] are a good team and we learned what kind of preparation we should take before this kind of series," Rumana told reporters at the BCB Academy in Mirpur yesterday after returning home on Tuesday night. The Tigresses will leave today for Sylhet, where there will be a training camp for the Asia Cup.
The team will play the Asia Cup in June in Malaysia, where they will take on Sri Lanka on June 3 in the opening match. India, Pakistan, Malaysia and Thailand are the other teams in the T20 regional competition.
When asked about the difference between the two teams during the tour of South Africa, Rumana said: "I felt that they improved a lot and have gone far ahead from where we are. Their pace attack was marvellous, while we lagged far behind in that department. And the conditions were also a factor."
Rumana also said that they said a tearful goodbye to their outgoing head coach David Capel at the Qatar International Airport.
Former Indian wicketkeeper Anju Jain, who is expected to arrive in Dhaka today, is all set to take over from Capel ahead of the busy international schedule.
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