Captaining Bangladesh not easy, says Siddons
Mumbai: Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons has welcomed the appointment of fast bowling all-rounder Mashrafe Mortaza as captain of the national side following the ouster of Mohammad Ashraful from the top job.
Speaking exclusively to Cricketnirvana from Australia, he said, "it is a good decision by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to appoint a new skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza. I am happy with it." "The 25-year old Mashrafe, also dubbed as ‘Narail Express’ was deputy to Ashraful for quite some time and it is a good choice and young team would perform better on Windies tour," he further added.
Like in Pakistan, the captain is not being chosen by selectors in Bangladesh also. The decision rests with the board officials. "I had a brief chat with Md. Enayet Husain Siraj, the , chairman of the Cricket Operations Committee (COC) in England where my opinion about the captaincy was sought."
Siddons denies criticising Ashraful's captaincy at the recently concluded ICC World Twenty20 tournament in England. "I only showed few mistakes he made in few matches and any captain can make such mistakes. There will be no captaincy burden on Ashraful and he may come out with better performance now. He is only 25 at present, and may lead the side in future."
Shakib Al Hasan, currently the world’s number one ranked all-rounder in ODIs has been named Mortaza’s deputy.
Siddons said he had a lot of faith in the budding youngsters in the side. "We don't have Super Stars like Shahid Afridi of Pakistan. However, our young team is doing fantastic cricket. The young players will play good cricket on Windies tour."
The Bangladesh team is scheduled to play two Test matches during their tour of the Caribbean. The team for the three ODIs and one Twenty20 would be announced later.
Initially Siddons was to join team in Barbados. But now he has changed his travel plans. He will join with the team in Bangladesh on 28th. The team would leave the next day. "I am yet to speak to the new captain. Probably I shall have a long chat during this week end", Siddons signed off.
