Bangladesh cricket coach Shane Jurgensen says an improvement in fitness has played a key role in his team’s rise this year.
Only last month Bangladesh wrapped a 3-0 whitewash of New Zealand in a one-day international series, giving them seven consecutive wins over
the Black Caps in the 50-over format. The Asian nation have also improved significantly in Test cricket, winning one and drawing three of their six matches in 2013, statistics made even more impressive by the youthful team Jurgensen has put his faith in. Of the team that drew the second Test against New Zealand in October, the average age was 23, with just one player – Abdur Razzak – over the age of 26, and the coach says increased training sessions have paid dividends this year. “The boys played really well (against New Zealand), so to come up with the win and the 3-0 was just an amazing achievement from the players,” Jurgensen told Perform. “(I have been delighted with) our improvement in Test cricket in the last 12 months. We’ve had some really good draws. We won a Test in Zimbabwe and it’s just the way the guys are going about their Test cricket. “We really needed to improve on our fitness. We had a big gap between the Zimbabwe series in May to this series against New Zealand. We actually did three months of fitness. That made a huge difference to the guys.” Jurgensen says 2013 has increased the expectations within his side and paid tribute to the efforts of 25-year-old wicket-keeper-captain Mushfiqur Rahim in helping some of his young stars – led by Mominul Haque and Sohag Gazi – develop. “The guys really expect success now. Compared to probably when I was first there, winning wasn’t so much a surprise but it was like ‘oh wow’,” he said. “Now the guys have had some good success – it all started in the 2012 Asia Cup when we beat Sri Lanka in India to make the final – ever since then, there’s a real expectancy of success now within the group which is just fantastic to watch. “We have fantastic leadership from the captain, who himself is still a young man. He has also been playing cricket at the international level for the past six or seven years. “We get really good leadership from him. The senior players have stepped up really well to support, whether it’s through performance and even just their belief and will to win. That’s really rolled over to the young guys.” Improving Bangladesh’s Test cricket is again on Jurgensen’s priority list for 2014 – they have won just four of their 81 matches – in a busy year that will also see them host the ICC World Twenty20 in March and April. To do that, he wants his players to take part in as many domestic first-class matches as possible, while he also takes a keen interest in the pitches that are produced in Bangladesh. “They need to play as much first-class cricket as possible and then that’s going to move into more areas – it’s not about just playing first-class cricket but we’ve got to make sure the wickets are a certain type of wicket which I think is really important,” he added. “We need really good cricket wickets to make sure that batting and bowling is fair for both sides.”
By James Willoughby – Sportal via Google
