Home ›› 18 Jul 2022 ›› Sport
Stuart Law and Wasim Jaffer are back in Bangladesh in new roles, and both are excited to nurture the young talents in the country.
Law previously worked as the head coach of the Bangladesh national cricket team that reached the final of the Asia Cup in 2012 beating India and Sri Lanka at home.
The former Australian cricketer also worked as the Technical Advisor of the 2016 U-19 World Cup Bangladesh team, where they came third.
Jaffer, a former Indian opener, worked as the batting coach for the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s High-Performance Unit. He also worked as the national team’s batting coach on an ad-hoc basis. Law will be starting his third stint in Bangladesh in a completely new role as the head coach of the U-19 team, while Jaffer will work as the batting coach. The Australian said he was excited to work with the young talents of Bangladesh.
“Since I have been involved in Bangladesh, I have seen so much talent in this country. It is about harnessing the energy and talent and giving them an environment and understanding of how to play the game. It is an exciting time,” he said in a press conference on Sunday at the Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium.
“It is not about wholly and solely producing international cricketers. I know that’s the developing program. It is about developing young men,” he added.
The Australian said he will also focus on red-ball cricket despite the World Cup being in the 50-overs format.
“The World Cup is mainly focused on white-ball one-day cricket. But we are going to play longer format games in some of the bilateral series. I think it is critical for the young players’ development to play in a longer format. I believe your best players come from learning to play that game. From there, it is about developing their skill level and their mindset to kick on and play the 50 and 20-over format,” Law said.
“I am a traditionalist. I love red-ball cricket. Wasim (Jaffer, batting coach), who has played more than me, understands that Test cricket is the toughest. It is something that if you don’t understand early, it is difficult to pick up as you go. We are trying to give these players opportunities in every facet of cricket,” he added.
Law was the Technical Director of the team from where players like Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Najmul Hossain Shanto have climbed up to the top-tier of international cricket and he is happy to see them grow into men.
“It is great to see them (Miraz and Shanto). They are so proud of telling me about their family life. They are now married. They have come from juniors to become men,” said the Australian in the press conference.
Jaffer also said that the aim is to prepare the young cricketers for tougher challenges.
“The more boys get out of their comfort zone, the better they will play. If you play in this environment, you get accustomed to playing in a certain way. That’s what we will try to do. I believe that once the U19 does well, the national team does well.
“The competition comes in. Our job is to prepare the boys to their optimum. Prepare them for the next level,” said the former Indian opener.
The two are heading a camp that started on Sunday consisting of 40 young cricketers. After the camp, the size will be trimmed down for higher training, said Law.
“At the moment, we have to settle on a squad. We have a group of 40 players who arrived here last night. We have to whittle it down to a squad of 30, and progress from there,” he said on Sunday.
