KHULNA, Bangladesh, CMC – High Performance Centre head coach Graeme West is anxious to have a look at his side’s development in the two upcoming four-day matches.
The first fixture bowls off here Sunday (Saturday night, East Caribbean Time) against the Bangladesh National Cricket Academy at the Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium.
“We have worked really hard and we feel the two four-day matches will be very interesting,” West said.
“We have talked a lot about the need for the batsmen to occupy the crease for longer periods and to get big, big scores.”
He added: “We also talked about the need for the fast bowlers to be a lot more patient on the kind of pitches that we expect to come across.
“And we have with us a strong spin bowling group and it will be really interesting to see how they bowl on pitches that should assist them and against batsmen at home to spin.”
The HPC, the West Indies Cricket Board’s academy which serves as a nursery to the senior team, arrived here this week for a three-week developmental tour.
They clash with Bangladesh A in the second four-day game starting next Saturday before also playing the A side in three one-dayers and two Twenty20s.
While winning the games will be a priority, West pointed out he was more focused on seeing how the players executed on the field.
“It would be nice to win and we want to win matches on this tour because it is part and parcel of the development process for the players but we ultimately want to see players making better decisions on the field,” he noted.
“To be successful in the four-day matches in particular, it is going to be about the batsmen getting hundreds and batting through a day, and it is going to be about the bowlers and the fielders really sticking to their tasks for longer periods of time.”
West said he was pleased with how the side had developed and believes the tour will prove a major catalyst for many of the players.
“Technically, they are all developing, and they all came to the Sagicor HPC with reasonably good techniques,” he said.
“What we have done is to refine them a bit, and for some, it’s just a matter of patience. We have encouraged them to be positive, but take each delivery on its merit.
“We have seen signs of improvements in training, but we now need to see it in competition, and this is the challenge.”
