[Eshen]

No easy answers to Bangladesh's quick questions

"If we are to bowl 10 overs in a session, we cannot be bowling four overs in training every day," one pace bowler told ESPNcricinfo. "It is not a difficult thing to understand that by bowling more in the nets, we will improve. But it doesn't happen like that in the Bangladesh team."

He also spoke of the generally unsettled existence of a Bangladesh fast bowler: they hardly play in home Tests where spinners dominate, sometimes not bowling a single over in long sessions of only fielding in the deep. At the same time they spend months training in the senior team's camps, which keeps them away from bowling in first-class cricket.

That leads into another frustration. Those who have worked closely with the pace bowlers point out that while they work hard, they are not as self-sufficient as the team would like them to be. They stick to doing what they are told, and hardly ever contribute to team meetings. Worse, they don't set their own fields.

In all this, the role of Courtney Walsh comes to the fore. Over the last 13 months, most have found him to be a diligent and helpful bowling coach. He puts forth all plans and constantly offers the bowlers tips. He has gone out of his way to make the pace bowlers feel comfortable around him, often by bonding with them socially.

Some of the pace bowlers were not vocal enough when they were struggling, an observation that was especially true in New Zealand earlier this year. At the time it was seen as a minor and inevitable issue because Walsh was new, but while Walsh has since tried to overcome that, the bowlers haven't responded properly.

Walsh will, however, continue to have a greater role in their holistic improvement. Champaka Ramanayake, working currently for the BCB's High Performance Unit, will also have a role to play, especially because of his history with bowlers like Rubel and Shafiul. But the pair may have to enforce a tougher regime on the bowlers, starting with greater focus on bowling longer spells in the nets and taking it to first-class matches.

Will the BCB enable this? The answer is not quite straightforward.

As soon as they return from South Africa, the bowlers will become busy with the BPL. And tired bodies will be reluctant to play any first-class matches after December 12, when they are available to do so.

Sri Lanka arrive in mid-January, four weeks after the BPL. That is not really enough time to implement a cultural shift in how Bangladesh's pace bowlers develop, or even make necessary technical tweaks.

While there is a lot of dread flying around the Shere Bangla National Stadium, the good news is that everyone is worried, and thinking hard about how to improve things. This is a positive step and as a senior figure mentioned. "The South Africa tour was a disaster but it is good that it happened," he said. "If we forget about the South Africa series, it will be a disaster for Bangladesh cricket."