‘Rewards for fielding changed players’ mindset’

Shane McDermott joined the Tigers as their fielding coach in 2022, and since then, Bangladesh have fielded better and better, especially in their latest series wins over England and Ireland. The Business Post’s Shams Rahman caught up with the Bangladesh fielding coach, and talked on the improvement and the process behind it.

How impressed have you been with the Bangladesh fielding performance in recent series?

Very much so. Throughout the (2022 T20) World Cup, I thought we'd fielded okay. I felt we were creating some great opportunities with the ball and on the ground against India. The improvement through the England and Ireland series has just been the continuation of that. So, I've been really impressed with the boys’ attitude and the success they've been getting on the field, which obviously helped in terms of their commitment to continue to practice as hard as they have been off the field.

Biggest improvement since your arrival?

One of the things we've worked really hard on is being in a ready position at bat-ball contact, which you could call a split-step. Just being in a position ready to react to the ball that we see off the bat or anticipate where the ball might be coming from. So, we are in a better position more often than not. It’s been one of our mantras, like hunting, hunting, hunting, and split step. We're in a position that gives us the best chance to move and react to the ball. I think that the readiness has improved dramatically over the last year or so. And the boys’ courage and fearless approach to their willingness to have a go at balls where potentially they might have just let the play go past or the courage to make mistakes and feel supported by the team when they do. They're probably the two biggest things that I've seen change.

Do you believe the team has taken a big leap forward in terms of psychology during fielding?

I think the more they are around our environment with the national team, and the more games they play at an international level, emotionally you find an understanding of what the game's all about, and early in your career, you find different ways of dealing with failure as well. And with the support staff that we have, we're all quite qualified to make sure that the team morale, whether we are winning or losing, is as high as it can be.

You were talking about dealing with the fear of failure. Do you think changing the thinking around that has changed a lot for Bangladesh?

Definitely. We do a lot of work in our practice where we try and put the players under as much pressure as we can and teach the correct technique, whether that's taking the catch on the rope underneath the high ball or whether that be attacking the ball on the ground or taking catches at slip or catching one in close. So, there's a combination of both but I think that the way we're looking to reward performance through different means, especially our golden stump, has made players think more about what they can do well and when we make mistakes, understanding that we've got to keep working harder and longer and committing the time to make sure that we're as good as we can be.

Can you tell us how the golden stump award started?

It started in South Africa when I started with the team. We have a stump that we award to the best fielder of that series. I'm watching each and every ball of the game to see how the players perform and the player that performs the best. Whether that be consistently diving in the outfield, whether that be taking three stumpings, or that be taking two run-outs. It is a golden painted stump on which the name is written and is rewarded to the best fielder of that tournament.

The boys see it as a bit of fun, but they all talk about it as well, and they're all happy and proud to recognise and clap and commend the person who was the best in the series in terms of their fielding performance. Because we often highlight after matches the man of the series, the man of the match, and they're typically the players who have scored the most runs or taken the most wickets. So, it's just another way of identifying the importance of fielding in the game. And our boys seem to report into it quite well so far.

Who has won it the most?

(Najmul Hossain) Shanto is probably one of the most, especially in the shorter format. But there have been different players winning it that potentially weren't expected to win. Taskin took a couple of great catches probably at the Asia Cup and won the golden stump. Potentially a way of giving him confidence that he can have an impact on the game. And maybe, a few years ago, his fielding was below standard, whereas now, if you watch him in the ground, the way that he's getting himself ready to react to the ball, moving across the ground, and his confidence around the ball has grown. That’s not to say that he might not come in and drop the next catch that gets hit to him, but at the moment, he's in a better space mentally. He has grown in that confidence and courageousness.

The pacers have improved in their fielding recently and they said they want to improve further. How much improved have they been since you arrived?

A lot. I don't think it's just them either. A lot of our players have improved dramatically. But the fast bowlers are an area we've obviously highlighted. They need to be someone that can have an impact in a game rather than someone that we have to hide. Ideally, the best fielding teams in the world have people that can field in numerous positions. We've worked hard on our pacers being able to field in the outfield, but also their ability to move laterally, be in good positions, and take catches. Just be a little bit more versatile as players and ideally, if we can have a tall fast bowler standing at long-on, it means that sometimes they've got to hit the ball an extra meter or two further. That'll be ideal. We don't have that yet but they're all little projects that are at work at the moment.

Shakib and Hathurusinghe have often talked about making Bangladesh the best fielding team in Asia. How far along is the team that way?

It's funny they said it because when I was in the dressing room in South Africa a year ago, I said that we wanted to be the best fielding team in the world. And the way we do that is by out-fielding our opposition every time. And we've done that on numerous occasions, especially recently. I think we are well on the way, but again, fielding well in big tournaments such as the Asia Cup and the World Cup is going to be a real test for us. So, it's probably something I'm better off answering at the end of those couple of tournaments in terms of where we are in the worldw.