Concrete wickets made to tackle bounce

Bangladesh Cricket Board is laying two concrete wickets at the far-right end of the BCB Academy ground where the T20 World Cup-bound cricketers will train before they catch their flight for New Zealand, said an official.

Shahriar Nafees, former cricketer and currently working as the deputy manager of cricket operations at the BCB, told the media that the demand for concrete wickets came from the national team management.

“Recently, a proposal for two or three concrete wickets came from the team management. During the rainy season, teams like Australia and England train on concrete wickets. We have also observed that for the last couple of years, the national team players do their batting practice over marble slabs. The ball comes faster, and the bounce is good (on marble),” he said at the SBNCS on Tuesday.

Batting practice on hard surfaces like concrete or granite slabs is nothing new in cricket. It helps the batsman to adapt to faster deliveries and higher bounce. Recently, national team cricketer, Liton Das, told a local media that batting on surfaces like Mirpur is harmful to the batsmen. Even before the 2021 T20 World Cup, Shakib Al Hasan said pitches like Mirpur will ruin a batsman’s career.

Shakib said it after the T20I series against Australia and New Zealand, where 10 low-scoring matches on soft and spongy surfaces were played in quick time. At that point, BCB officials and selectors hailed the series wins against Australia and New Zealand saying winning is a habit but soon realised what had been done.

The team management has asked for concrete wickets to tackle the pace and bounce in Australia, where the next T20 World Cup will take place. 

“Normally, we play half of our international matches at home and the other half abroad. In most cases, we face faster pace and harder bounce from the wickets abroad. To replicate that, the grounds department is laying these concrete wickets. This will help both the batsmen and bowlers. The ball will skid and bounce on concrete,” Nafees said on Tuesday.

The newly appointed technical director for T20, Sridharan Sriram, will return to Bangladesh on September 11. He will observe some of the cricketers who were not part of the Asia Cup squad due to injury or other issues and will consult the team management for possible inclusion.

Liton is undergoing rehabilitation after suffering a hamstring injury in Zimbabwe. Nurul Hasan Sohan is also on his way to recovery after a finger fracture, and Yasir Ali is also improving after he suffered a back injury in West Indies.