Bangladesh head coach Phil Simmons said today (April 21) that the team is hoping to bounce back on day two of the Sylhet Test, after Zimbabwe dominated proceedings on the opening day.
“We didn’t do the things we needed to do yesterday,” Simmons told the broadcaster ahead of the second day’s play. “It’s only the first day of the Test match, so there’s always time to come back. We didn’t bowl well last night either. Hopefully, we can start on the right foot this morning.”
Simmons refrained from blaming the Tigers’ preparation in the lead-up to the Test, stating that the players had ample time and excellent facilities to prepare.
“Their preparation was very good. The facilities are excellent. We had enough time to prepare, but we started badly. You can’t really do anything about that now — you just have to move forward,” he said.
“It’s about consistency and professionalism. It’s about how we approach the morning. If we bowl better lines and lengths, with smarter field placements, we can pick up a couple of wickets,” he added.
Simmons also touched on Bangladesh’s evolving approach to batting in Test cricket.
“We are trying to play a lot more positively. We tend to sit back in Test cricket and let teams come at us. Now we want to go forward,” he explained.
“It didn’t go well for the batters yesterday, but you could see they were trying to apply that approach. Sometimes things take time. That’s the way we want to play cricket now — always on the front foot against any opposition.”
Bd-Pratidin English/ARK
