Beating West Indies is big, says Rhodes
© Cricfrenzy
Bangladesh head coach Steve Rhodes believes they should be proud to have won the opening Test against West Indies and there is no reason to take anything away from it despite them being criticized for playing on a spin-friendly track.
Rhodes explained his reasons in front of the media at Chittagong on Sunday (November 25).
Here are the excerpts from his media interaction:
*Do you feel we had taken undue advantage by preparing tailor-made wicket?
Steve Rhodes (SR): Look, I think in the sub-continent – in places like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India, and Bangladesh – you have come to expect turning wickets. So, it’s no surprise. There’s a Test match going on in Colombo at the moment, between Sri Lanka and England; that’s a turning wicket. And I think the teams that come over to the sub-continent, plan for those sort of wickets. It’s just different type of cricket. I’ll take you back to the Antigua Test match where we played on very alien conditions. Green, bouncy, swinging ball, duke ball nipped around a lot and it was very different. But I think that’s the beauty of playing all around the world. There’s lots of different ways to play this wonderful game and coming to Bangladesh and playing on spinning wickets… it’s made for some intriguing cricket.
* Are you convinced that it is the right approach?
SR: No, I think that this sort of wickets is a dangerous thing as well because West Indies, you know, they’ve got three good spinners there. Even before the Test match started I was well aware of their ability. I knew we had to ball well and bat well. We just won a Test match against the West Indies and I think Bangladesh would be proud of that. You know, the players have gone out there and won the game. And they all, I feel as though they wanted to do it for the nation, the supporters, and the people who can’t get to the ground and were listening and watching on the TV. Beating the West Indies, you don’t do that all the time and for us to do that has been wonderful. Particularly, as I mentioned earlier, that pitch in Antigua and losing the toss was so crucial. Going back to your point about preparing ourselves for away games, I think the two matches against Zimbabwe did that a little bit, not possibly as much as I would’ve liked because we didn’t quite get the amount of bowling into our seam bowlers. Certainly in the second match we got a lot more out of it. It was quite tough cricket. The wicket was a good wicket. It did turn later on. This one just had a little more turn. Certainly, trying to beat West Indies whether you are home or away, is very difficult to do and we’re proud of what we’ve done. Great to beat a wonderful cricket nation like West Indies.
* Do you believe counter-attack is the best approach here?
SR: I think when you get a difficult pitch… and I’m not saying it was unplayable, it certainly wasn’t. Shakib (Al Hasan) was right; it was playable. What tends to happen if you feel vulnerable – a little worried about getting out – is that you tend to play in a manner that is a little bit counter-attacking and sometimes it looks like rash batting, or rash shots for Test match batting. But under pressure, you are trying not to make the bowler bowl, as well as you counter-attack a little bit. So having the skill to play well… I thought Hetmyer’s innings was very interesting – the way he counter-attacked. He only got a few runs in the second innings and I was so glad to see him gone because of the danger he could’ve caused if he had lasted an hour, or an hour and a half. As the wicket turned early, I thought Mominul played wonderfully, so it was possible to score runs. Going back to our plans to playing well at abroad, I think you saw in the Test against Zimbabwe in Mirpur.
* What is your say on pace-bowler Khaled (Ahmed)?
SR: Khaled showed some really good promise and he is definitely one that we would like to pick in the side for New Zealand, but as long as he carries on playing well and remains fit he is a type of bowler who could do well in New Zealand and hopefully we can add a few more.
* How do you see Shakib’s presence?
SR: I think the one thing to talk about the last Test, which is really important for me, is that I want to pay tribute to Shakib. That was an amazing effort, what he did. He only had two or three hits in the net, you can see he is physically not quite as well as he could be. He was brilliant on the field as captain. He did it for, again, Bangladesh. He did it for the whole nation. He wanted to beat the West Indies. He is an important part of our team because he is the captain. He is a great tactician and he played his part and he will be better for running, going into the next Test match. He may be a little bit more ready. He has had a little bit of time in the middle. He has had some overs under his belt. He has got back in the spring of using his brain for captaincy. So for him to play, I think we shouldn’t forget that, it was an amazing effort, because he could’ve easily not played and said look I’m not ready. But he did play and that’s good to see.
* Tell us something about the spinners.
SR: Nayeem (Hasan) – I think he is a wonderful prospect. Five wickets on debut at that age is incredible. The way he fitted into the four-man attack, was wonderful. The way Shakib captained that four man-attack, was wonderful. He is different from Miraz (Mehidy Hasan). Both of them can play in the same team. Because Miraz is a different type of bowler and they’ve got different attributes. You look at Nayeem’s height and bounce, that’s totally different from Miraz’s. Miraz has got some wonderful skills. And there’s Taijul (Islam) and Shakib. You know it’s easy to… because history has shown that most times... you play a Test match with two spinners, three pacemen and an all-rounder. But I tell you what, when the West Indies played with four quicks and really no spinner, that was their way of doing it. If we feel that four spinners is the right way, that’s our aggression and that’s our style of doing it. So what? We just need to make sure that we are ready to play away from home and that’s something I’m very conscious of. I want Bangladesh to be a good side away from home as well. But take nothing away from what just happened. It was a really big win to beat the West Indies. I’m very respectful of them as cricketers. They are going to comeback hard in the next Test; I know that.
