Post Bangladesh’s historic Test victory against Australia in Darwin, Bangladesh’s head coach Phil Simmons cautioned his players to stay grounded. The series-decider will be held at the Great Barrier Reef Arena from Saturday, the 22nd of August. Bangladesh stunned the cricketing community with a staggering nine-wicket win over the Kangaroos in under four days and look to seal their maiden Test series victory Down Under.
Coach Simmons Urges Caution for Bangladesh
Coach Phil Simmons told reporters on Thursday and lauded the team’s performance. Phil Simmons added that his side were confident to take on the challenge and that the batters needed to put pressure on the opposition from the get-go.
“Test cricket is five days and if my team can bat for 11 hours out of that five days, then the other team must be under pressure. So for me, that’s how I learned to play Test cricket, that you bat, you get a score, a big first innings score is always good, and then you put the other team under pressure. And that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to bat and get big scores in the first innings and make sure that the other team has to do a lot of work to get to our score,”
“The only thing I had to say to them, and I will repeat it anywhere, is that Australia is going to come harder. So we have to either keep that level of performance or get a little bit better. Even if we get 1% better in some areas, then we will have to make sure that that’s there. But we know that they are going to change their game, they’re going to come harder at us,” he said.
Best Test win I have had in my coaching career- Phil Simmons
Despite the lacklustre performance in the warmup match against Cricket Australia XI, Bangladesh showed up with renewed vigour, stunning the cricket world with their victory.
“Definitely the best Test win I’ve had in my coaching career. I’ve had other formats with big ones, but the Test (win over Australia in Darwin) was the best,”
“I’ve seen the practices. I’ve seen how we practised before the three-day game and I’ve seen how we practised the three days before the Test match. The work didn’t change. Even though we made 54 that day, when we came back, the work didn’t change, the work rate didn’t change. So it gave me that sort of confidence that guys want this and they want to do well. So it was always going to come at some point,” he added.
Coach Phil Simmons explained that he’s well aware about expectations back home but stated that the touring team members are well grounded after their win in Darwin, and ready to take on the next challenge in Mackay.
Also Read: AUS vs BAN: Australia Seek Revenge Against Resilient Bangladesh