Putting behind memories of the 0-2 drubbing in India, as Bangladesh gear up for an identical two-match Test series against South Africa at home from Monday, their newly-appointed head coach Phil Simmons is hopeful that the home side has a good opportunity to win the series.
The Test series against the Proteas will be the first assignment for Simmons, who joined after the recent axing of Chandika Hathurasinghe, and will have to deal with a side, that won’t have the services of the veteran Shakib Al Hasan, in what would have been his farewell Test at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, due to non-cricketing reasons.
Simmons, however, said that his focus remains on cricket, leaving behind all the outside noise as they prepare to take on the Proteas.
“That’s the big part of our job over the next few days, to make sure the focus is on the cricket, and not on the outside of cricket. We can control how we prepare for Monday, that’s how we are trying to get the team to focus,” Simmons said on Saturday.
“The good thing is we have a very important Test match to prepare for. We win the next few Tests, and we are in contention for the (WTC) final. My first port of call is cricket, and about getting the squad ready for Monday. The last two days (of training) have been brilliant. We have to try to leave out the confusion that’s around the cricket, and concentrate on preparing for Monday,” he said.
Simmons will be the second West Indian to join as head coach of Bangladesh after Gordon Greenidge. He felt that his stint with different countries like Ireland and Afghanistan will help him guide the team forward.
“All these experiences will help me in the next few days to get me ready for Monday. Afghanistan helped me with the language barrier sometimes. Ireland helped me with developing young players. It all comes in at the end of the day. I have to use all those experiences in this assignment.
“My philosophy is to work hard in your preparation and results will come in the match. What I have seen in the last couple of days, these guys work really hard on their game, skills and fitness. I am pretty happy over the last couple of days,” he said.
Simmons hoped that his team will give a tough time to South Africans, who could not win a Test series in the subcontinent in the last 10 years.
“It is definitely a good opportunity. Bangladesh are usually very strong at home. So it is a very good opportunity for us to win the Test series. South Africa has that (record of not winning in the sub-continent in the last ten years) hanging over their head but they are a resilient team. They will work hard to change that,” he said.
“It has been about his thoughts on players and the direction he wants to take the team. It was also about what we do before Monday. It is generally about how we go into the first Test match. As we get to know each other, there will be more discussion about ODIs, etc. Now it is about Test cricket, and what we are going to do in these two matches.”
The second Test of the series, which is part of the ICC World Test Championship, will be played at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium at Chattogram from October 29.