[Nadim]

Originally Posted by Newagebd
Staff Correspondent
Australian Stuart Law arrived in Dhaka on Monday to take up the coaching job of the Bangladesh national cricket team for the next two years. Law appeared for his first formal press conference as Bangladesh coach in the evening on the same day. During the press conference at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium the new coach shared his vision for the team and his coaching philosophy. Excerpts:  
Q: What made you take up the Bangladesh job?
Stuart Law: A fact of a few things. Sri Lanka weren’t in a position to offer an extension of contract so there was no job on the table from their respect. Bangladesh contacted my management to seek the possibility of joining. Having been here and knowing the passion Bangladeshi people have for cricket I saw it as a great opportunity for me. I am still very young as a coach and it is a great opportunity for me to learn with some of the most talented cricketers on the planet. Hopefully the knowledge that I have gained from 31 seasons in first-class cricket I can impart a bit of that knowledge to the players so that they can become as good as they can be.
Q: What is your idea about Bangladesh and Bangladesh’s cricket?
Law: I only had been here once before with the Sri Lanka team for a one-day series. I know a bit about the cricket team because I have seen them playing in England, Australia and obviously here in Bangladesh. And just knowing its huge population and that 90 per cent of the population loves cricket makes it all the more exciting. I love interacting with people who have the same passion that I have about the sport. I don’t know a lot about the culture at this stage but I am willing to learn and willing to live here and willing to respect and enjoy.
Q: What are the challenges that you expect to face? 
Law: I think when you do have a new coach or change of management it is always a challenge. The challenge for us is to put names into faces for the first couple of weeks. Once we get into that the next challenge for us is to make Bangladesh cricket the team they think they should be. It’s not about what I think they should be but what they expect from themselves. If they think they should be up in the sixth, seventh or fifth best team in the world I think that is where we should aim at.  At first to get up around there the boys should realise it’s a little bit of hard work. Natural talent can take you that far. But the work they had been doing might not be good enough so they might have to do a bit more to climb that ladder. I am sure the boys want to play for Bangladesh as long as they can and not just be in the team but perform as well as they can. If they can perform to the optimum level then sky is the limit for them.
Q: Have you set any goal for yourself as Bangladesh coach?
Law: I don’t want to sit here and make predictions.  I have got to know the players before I can start pushing them in different areas. That’s the way I do things. I didn’t come here to make big statements saying this is going to happen. I want to get in and get the feelings of the players, understand what makes them peak, what drives them on and what passions they have and once I know the player in that sort of capacity then you can start telling that this team can go this far or that far. At this stage I don’t want to make statements or too many big predictions. But we are not here for holiday, we are here to work. We want to bring Bangladesh team reward and knowledge and hopefully that knowledge will help them become a better Test playing nation.
Q: Do you think there is enough time for you to prepare the team for the Zimbabwe tour? 
Law: I think the best way to know a player is during the game of cricket. Practice is one thing it is something different to hone skill and work on technical difficulties. During a game you get to know how a player is reacting to different pressure situation.  It’s good that in a couple of day’s time they play a two-day game.  I like to get a feel for what the boys are doing, get to talk to them during the game and that’s the way I like to do things.   I have learnt over the period that the more the players want to do the better it is for the team. It’s not about what I want. It’s about what they want. I am looking forward to the tour of Zimbabwe. I should be a tour we should play good cricket in condition that is not similar to the sub continent. 
Q: The performance graph of Bangladesh cricket team is not stable. How confident are you about instilling stability?
Law: We want to have consistency and stability and that is what we strive for. The main reason why you are not consistent is because you are not sure of your role in the team. If I can have great relationship with the selectors the captain and the cricket board than I am sure we can have consistent things happening. It’s been proven the most stable relationship at the top generally provides the best environment and so the players play better cricket.
Q: Do you want to focus on individual improvement or do you do want to emphasis on performing as a unit? 
Law: I have been involved with a few cricket teams that were not as talented as the next team. But we played for each other and we won games for each other.  My philosophy is to play as team because it is a team sport. I know a lot depends on individuals in the game of cricket but if everyone is working on the same goal it makes everyone’s trouble a lot easy.
Q: In a team like Bangladesh, the coach calls most of the shots. Do you think this should be changed?
Law: I think the captain has a tough job once he gets into the field because he is the man in charge. We can only sit, observe and offer him advice at the right time. It is a tough job being a captain of a cricket team. The selectors are there to pick the team and they will have a massive influence on the final eleven. The captain should also have his input to that team because he is the one who gets out there with that team. If I can have a say than its better as there will be different opinions from different areas. But ultimately selectors will pick the team and we will be there to provide knowledge to make them achieve what they can achieve.

Source: Newagebd

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