Please have a read of TIK's column in Daily Sun. Your opinion is highly appreciated.
21 March, 2011
Tamim Iqbal’s Column
Jamie should stay
The World Cup is over for us. As expected, we have won three matches. But things would have been beautiful had we not been all out at 58 and 78 against West Indies and South Africa respectively.
It’s natural that right after the World Cup I should write about the experience I had during the tournament, but I guess it will be better to write about what bad can be happening rather what has already happened.
Bangladesh head coach Jamie Siddons might not be seen with us after the upcoming Australia series in Dhaka, which I think should not be happening for the betterment of the team.
The main reason for which he should be staying is, he has been working with us for the last four years, resulting in the improvements the team had shown of late. You ask any general public or any one related to cricket and I am sure that they will be saying that there has been some improvement in the team.
Many batsmen in the team now have a better average and they have learnt to build bigger partnerships, there has been improvement in the way of playing test matches. The way he has prepared us in the last four years, I think it wouldn’t have been possible for any one else.
I feel that there are two types of coaches. First, there are coaches who plan well and second, there are coaches who teach well. For a team like Bangladesh, a teacher like Jamie is needed rather than a planner. I find him to be a good teacher. Whatever improvement I have shown recently is because of Jamie and Salauddin sir, who is now utilising his talent for some other country which is sad for our cricket.
I think a student needs to trust his teacher or else there will be no improvement. Today whatever improvement you see in me is because I trusted my teacher. Whatever improvement you will find in Mushfiqur (Rahim), Roquibul (Hassan), Imrul (Kayes) is because they had trusted their teacher. Jamie is the reason for Shakib’s being the number one ODI all-rounder.
I can challenge that there will not be a single person who can show that the performance graph of any of the player in the current team has fallen in the last four years. Everyone was tensed with the pacers but amazingly if you ask Shafiul (Islam) you will get to know that Jamie was the one who taught him how to bowl out-swingers.
Though these matters are only to be considered by Bangladesh Cricket Board, still what I feel is that Jamie’s contract should be renewed. Or else, the team will face a problem to build up the bridge with the new coach. The coach will need to understand us, need to know what we are and how we each play which I think will be taking at least two years to happen. Jamie has already overcome that period and now he understands every single move of ours which is a very good thing for the team and now is the time to implement his plans.
There is a saying that Jamie has always overlooked the senior players which I think is a totally wrong conception. People say that he has a problem with Mashrafe (Bin Mortaza) which is not right. I have been in the team since Mashrafe was like any other member of the team and has always seen both of them having a very close and good relation even when Mashrafe was handed over the charge of leading the team. Jamie has always been supporting him and he still does.
If we omit two results for the six matches that we played in the World Cup, then I think the result could have been wonderful and none could have possibly said that we performed badly in the tournament.
Getting a new coach will slow down the momentum as the new one will have to start from zero.
What I have written today is what I feel about the team but this doesn’t mean that I am going against BCB as I will never do so. Not only as a vice captain but also as a member of the team, I know what 99% of the players want - they want Jamie to stay. It doesn’t really matter how good a teacher is, as a student will never improve if he or she doesn’t have a good bonding and understanding with the teacher.
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