We need to get centuries- Helmut
Photo - Cricfrenzy
|| CF Correspondent ||
Bangladesh batsmen need to score century in the upcoming World Cup as that will be essential to do well in the global tournament, said BCB High Performance head coach Simon Helmut on Sunday.
Just before the start of their much-awaited ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 campaign, Bangladesh have given themselves a huge confidence booster by clinching their maiden multi-team ODI tournament.
Bangladesh hardly allowed their opponents any room for improvement as they were pretty impressive with their all-round show, which comes as a massive plus point for this team before crossing the Irish sea to feature at the pinnacle cricketing event–the Cricket World Cup.
Coming into this tri-series, which was nothing but a preparatory event for Bangladesh before their upcoming challenge in the United Kingdom, there were some concerns, starting from the lack of experience in the bowling department to finding a settled opening partner of Tamim Iqbal.
On every occasion of this tri-series, Bangladesh were chasing totals and in the league stage they successfully overhauled the targets of 262, 248 and 293 without any fuss whatsoever – by eight, five and six wickets respectively. Even, in the tournament decider, the revised target for Bangladesh was 210 in 24 overs and the Tigers won the game by five wickets with seven balls to spare.
Despite even a single batsman not scoring a century in the tournament, there were six half-centuries from the eventual winners. It shows the consistency and depth in quality of this batting line-up.
However, according to Helmut that will not be enough for Tigers when they take on other opponents in the biggest global cricket extravaganza.
‘’No doubt we need to score centuries,’’ Helmut told reporters at academy premises on Sunday.
‘’I think you have to score centuries and have to have significant high partnership. Significant partnership and individual score will help you to set up a defendable target or chase down a score,’’ he said.
The whole team is working very well and preparing themselves for a very tough world cup. Anyone can win this world cup because there are so many teams with so much talent. But I believe we are preparing ourselves at the right time. We do know they’re going to be some high scoring matches, there are going to be some flat wickets too. So, the team that will bowl well defensively and certainly take advantage of those middle overs with the bat, they are going to be the team that would be most difficult to defeat,’’ he added.
Helmut said that only batsmen won’t be enough to carry Tigers across the line and bowlers and fielding unit need to compliment each other as that will be key behind earning success.
‘’It’s not just about scoring more or batting at high strike rate, its also about fielding and bowling at your best. It’s all about having best defensive balls and best defensive plans against a very attacking opposition,’’ he said adding that they are trying to get some leg spinners for the future as that is the area they are looking to improve.
‘’That’s[ leg-spin what that we are all working on. All countries have been working on, having that spin options and variations help you to sneak in few more dot balls and let alone get wickets. I think we have got some versatility in our bowling. We have a very different bowling top, we might suit different conditions, but no doubt we are working hard with our spin groups. so, we have more wrist spin , mystery spin and more options at our disposal,’’ he concluded.
