Home ›› 24 May 2023 ›› Sport
After Bangladesh A eked out a draw in their first four-day match against West Indies A in Sylhet, batting coach Jamie Siddons said that he wanted to see batters stay out the whole day.
“If we can defend better and be a little more patient. I want to see batters bat for six hours. I don’t want to see quickfire thirties and flashy twenties. We want to see batters knock the bails off at the end of the day and be ready to bat the next day,” he said.
However, the same issues appeared again on Tuesday in the first day of the second match as Bangladesh A lost five wickets in the two sessions played to notch up 175.
Rain interrupted play early on, leading to the morning session being lost. At the end of the day, youngster Shahadat Hossain was at the crease on 28 off 77, with Nayeem Hasan giving him company on 12 off 20 balls.
Bangladesh are essentially six down as opener Shadman Islam was retired hurt although he might resume batting again today, which might see their batting effort bolstered.
Before getting injured, Shadman started slowly, while his opening partner Zakir Hasan was flamboyant. When Zakir (18) was caught behind driving, Shadman was yet to get off the mark.
However, his partnership with Saif Hasan looked promising before he was injured, and soon after that, Mohammad Naim (5), who came into the XI for this match, edged one onto his stumps.
Saif was then gone on 31 following a debatable LBW decision, meaning Bangladesh had lost four batters in the first session of the day.
Skipper Afif Hossain came in and started playing in his usual aggressive manner as he flashed on to 37 off 34 balls. But it became one shot too many as he was trapped in front off Akeem Kelvin Jordan’s bowling.
After losing Afif and Irfan Sukkur (21), who came into the XI following Jaker Ali Anik’s injury, Shahadat ensured that Bangladesh did not lose any more wickets going into the second day.
Shahadat was the only Bangladesh batter that showed signs of what Siddons asked for ahead of this match as the batter showed discipline with the bat, leaving balls regularly, and saw himself rewarded as he managed to stay unbeaten.
The series is currently at a stalemate following a draw in the first match, where Bangladesh avoided an innings defeat.
