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29 March 2024


Business Insider Bangladesh

We just need to bat longer: Siddons

BI Report || BusinessInsider

Published: 14:01, 25 June 2022   Update: 17:21, 25 June 2022
We just need to bat longer: Siddons

Jamie Siddons. Photo: File

Bangladesh batting coach Jamie Siddons on Saturday asked the Tiger batters to stay long in the middle after the visitors were folded for 234 on day 1 of the second and final Test against West Indies in St Lucia.

''I thought we were a lot more patient today and left the ball well, which we worked on over the last week since the first Test where I thought we played at too many balls. They bowled really well today and we didn't bat as long as we would've liked. 230 is not enough on that wicket,'' Siddons said after the opening day's play.

''We just need to bat longer. In Test cricket, you got to bat on for a long time. You got to be there at the end of the day and then we got to be batting on tomorrow. We are failing to do that at the moment. We are getting blokes that look more comfortable with the bounce that you get over here. Today I thought Tamim, Liton looked fantastic but 50s and 40s are not going to give you enough runs. So those sorts of players need to go on when they get their start.

''Couple of the younger players looked really impressive but again got out. Probably couple of umpiring decisions looked close but didn't go our way. So 230, we're struggling at the moment,'' he added.

Liton Das, Tamim Iqbal, Najmul Hossain Shanto and Anamul Haque Bijoy were looking good and made useful contributions but could not carry on and make a score of substance. 

Shoriful Islam and Ebadot Hossain added 47 important runs and helped the Tigers to cross the 200-run mark. 

However, Bangladesh played comparatively better as in the first Test, they were bowled out for 103 runs in the first innings.

But Siddons believes that the surface in St Lucia was good to bat and Bangladesh could have finished with a score of around 400. He observed Shoriful’s batting as well.

He said, ''There was no swing there today which really bothered us in the first Test. Fairly placid surface as shown by Shoriful's hitting. When you bat first, little bit of pressure to get the game underway. We handled that okay. Our opening partnership was good. 2 for 100, staring down the barrel of a 400 but at 230, we fell well short of what we should have achieved today."

Nagad
Walton