What should Siddon's role be for the future of Bangladesh Cricket? Head Coach and Batting Coach or Batting Coach?

[ehteshamul]

Siddon’s tenure with BCB battingwise shows that he had done pretty well in bringing about marked improvements in Tammim, Sakib’s batting abilities, Junaed as well so far test matches is concerned (Tammim and Junaed has set up a record batting partner ship against the might of New Zealand – Siddons deserves full credit for it).

He has also been trying to calm Aftab down to pay a longer innings in the test matches
and has been successful to some extent.

Even Nafees did reasonably well under him as reflected in his performance against South Africa and Ireland. It is a pity he became completely out of touch against Pakistan when a lot was expected from him.

The younger crop of Riyad, Reza and Dhiman are all steadily improving.

The exception is Ashraful and Aftab in the one dayers. The least said about them the better.

However one notices that it is in the matter of tactics and game plan that we as fans are baffled. However we do not know whether Selectors, Captain or Coach has a bigger say in game plan or tactical matters for BD cricket team.

Some of the most bizarre decisions are playing Ash and Aftab repeatedly in higher positions even after they were constantly failing making it difficult for later batsmen to settle down.

Also shutting out some seasoned players from the playing Eleven who could be handy like Javed Omar, Rajin Saleh and Rafiq (Retired – should have been recalled for such a tough series against Pakistan).

We as fans did not find some of his statements very positive.

The players in general seemed satisfied even with a below par performance.

I think he will be a super coach so far as a Batting Specialist is concerned.

I think he should also be involved as a Batting Coach for our Under 19 and Academy teams as well to iron out any deficiencies which will result in some more stars to be born like Tammim.

However in terms of being Head Coach of Bangladesh BCB need to think hard and deep.

One understands he has to virtually build a very young team with so many areas that needs improvement – Pace Bowling, Fielding, A good captain.

Having said he also has to achieve results in terms of at least one victory per series otherwise ICC will seriously think to review our Cricket status.

So the question is Will he be able to mastermind for Bangladesh at least one victory per series ?

The upcoming series are against the top teams Australia, South Africa and Srilanka.

it maybe a good idea for him to coordinate with BCB to request ICC to arrange a 3 One day Series against Zimbabwe before taking on South Africa and Srilanka. It will be an opportunity to blood new faces and also to get some victories which is pretty dried up now. A victory against Zimbabwe will psychologically do a world of good for us.

Let’s see what our readers think about it

[crikfreak]

siddons should be our batting coach.. not head coach..he's brought some improvements in a few players with their batting.. but seriously.. our overall performance has gone downhill.. fielding has become poor and even our bowling attack has become weaker.. siddons needs to look into all of these problems.. i don't think he's doing that.. and as for a series against the zimbos.. can't we have one against bermuda?? i'm not sure if these guys can still beat zimbabwe the way they are going..

[lamisa]

Originally Posted by ehteshamul
Siddon’s tenure with BCB battingwise shows that he had done pretty well in bringing about marked improvements in Tammim, Sakib’s batting abilities, Junaed as well so far test matches is concerned (Tammim and Junaed has set up a record batting partner ship against the might of New Zealand – Siddons deserves full credit for it).

He has also been trying to calm Aftab down to pay a longer innings in the test matches
and has been successful to some extent.

Even Nafees did reasonably well under him as reflected in his performance against South Africa and Ireland. It is a pity he became completely out of touch against Pakistan when a lot was expected from him.

The younger crop of Riyad, Reza and Dhiman are all steadily improving.

The exception is Ashraful and Aftab in the one dayers. The least said about them the better.

However one notices that it is in the matter of tactics and game plan that we as fans are baffled. However we do not know whether Selectors, Captain or Coach has a bigger say in game plan or tactical matters for BD cricket team.

Some of the most bizarre decisions are playing Ash and Aftab repeatedly in higher positions even after they were constantly failing making it difficult for later batsmen to settle down.

Also shutting out some seasoned players from the playing Eleven who could be handy like Javed Omar, Rajin Saleh and Rafiq (Retired – should have been recalled for such a tough series against Pakistan).

We as fans did not find some of his statements very positive.

The players in general seemed satisfied even with a below par performance.

I think he will be a super coach so far as a Batting Specialist is concerned.

I think he should also be involved as a Batting Coach for our Under 19 and Academy teams as well to iron out any deficiencies which will result in some more stars to be born like Tammim.
However in terms of being Head Coach of Bangladesh BCB need to think hard and deep.

One understands he has to virtually build a very young team with so many areas that needs improvement – Pace Bowling, Fielding, A good captain.

Having said he also has to achieve results in terms of at least one victory per series otherwise ICC will seriously think to review our Cricket status.

So the question is Will he be able to mastermind for Bangladesh at least one victory per series ?

The upcoming series are against the top teams Australia, South Africa and Srilanka.

it maybe a good idea for him to coordinate with BCB to request ICC to arrange a 3 One day Series against Zimbabwe before taking on South Africa and Srilanka. It will be an opportunity to blood new faces and also to get some victories which is pretty dried up now. A victory against Zimbabwe will psychologically do a world of good for us.

Let’s see what our readers think about it

yea he can only do that 1s he stops going on dates wid his gf to australia.

[Pundit]

Great to see so many new cricket fans openings ga-zillions of threads everyday. If only we had equally consistent players opening the innings for Bangladesh....man, then razzak would be coming in to bat at the end of day 5.

[bujhee kom]

ehteshamul bhai, apnar matha-e eto buddhi ebong apne eto chinta koren je apnar mone hoi raate ghoom ekdom-e hoi na.

[ehteshamul]

Originally Posted by bujhee kom
ehteshamul bhai, apnar matha-e eto buddhi ebong apne eto chinta koren je apnar mone hoi raate ghoom ekdom-e hoi na.

QUOTE=bujhee kom;687639]ehteshamul bhai, apnar matha-e eto buddhi ebong apne eto chinta koren je apnar mone hoi raate ghoom ekdom-e hoi na.[/QUOTE]

Hello Bujhee Kom,

Amader cricket teamer akhon je obostha shob shomoi bhoi je kon din ICC amader bar korey dai ( orthat test status kerey nite parey )

etey tara kono karponno kor bey na. Chinta korey dakho etay holey amader obostha ki darabe. maney rastai porar upokrom .

Purber khalowar, BCB aro Aneker prochestai onekh kath khor pooriye amra CRICKET STATUS orgon korechi. kinntu akhon kar obostha ja dariye che tate bhalo khlea na dakhate parle bipodai porbo. Eta arabar jonno chestha kori kono bhabe jodi ato tuku input deya jai money akta tript thak bey.

Ami bangla grade 8 a shijkhechi tai ay lekhai onek bhool truti thakbe.

Asha kori akhon bujteperecho kano ato chinta kori.

Ami Allar Kachey shob shomai doa kori je tini jano amader kriketer ay bipod thekhay rokhha koren.

ajkay aiy parjontoi thak.

ROBIN ( amar dak naam )

[cricket_king]

Originally Posted by Pundit
Great to see so many new cricket fans openings ga-zillions of threads everyday. If only we had equally consistent players opening the innings for Bangladesh....man, then razzak would be coming in to bat at the end of day 5.

Hahaha...I'm sorry but I had to bring this up again. That was funny

[ehteshamul]

SHOULD WE LOOK BEYOND ?

While Siddons had brought good improvements in some of our players, on the tactical front I like many BD fans are not only disappointed but shocked at some of the blunders such as not getting the right selection and combination of the team , not playing players at the right positions ( Aftab and Ashraful has been worst suffers ).

It is also true to be fair to Siddons that after he was hired all our encounters were against the cricket heavyweights like Sri Lanka, South Africa and Pakistan with the sole exception of Ireland.

His/Selectors opposition (One does not know if it is him or selectors) not to play some of the older players like Javed Omar, Rajin Saleh or TKO of Rafiq (in this case Siddons may not be responsible) has caused a great imbalance of the team which definitely affected our performance against Pakistan.

I do not know how a team can win if you do not have the proper blue print /game plan and also if you are devoid of means to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of opposition players.

Every Team has an Analyst who uses a tool to capture the strengths and weaknesses of opposing players. Subsequently Captain and Coach discusses with bowlers to adopt a plan to exploit the weaknesses of opposition batsmen to cause their downfall. On the other hand the batsmen reviews as to what went wrong with his dismissal and discusses with Coach to correct it to avoid occurring again in the second innings or future.

I have not heard of any Analyst accompanying our team . Almost every team has. It’s a must. Under whatmore we had an Analyst. I am not sure if we have one under Siddons. If he does not have one why does not Siddons ask for one?

One cannot fully blame Siddons because he was never a head coach of any test playing nation. He was the batting coach of Australian Senior cricket team.

There is obvious a big gap in one’s experience being a Head Coach and a Specialist coach of a test playing nation. Because of the huge gap of macro and micro managing we are unable to see any results.

We all know Siddons did not come of his own. We invited and selected him as he was the best available option at that time for BCB.

But I am afraid with defeats by such big margins against Sri Lanka, South Africa and Australia and lately against Pakistan I doubt we will see any ray of light in the future as well at least not for this year because we do not face any lightweights like of Zimwabwe, Iceland or Kenya where we could get some wins. Unfortunately our opposition are Two Super heavyweights - Australia and South Africa in their own den which is even more challenging and not to forget heavyweights Pakistan, India next month at home and another heavyweight Sri lanka that we are hosting in December this year at home .

The concern which I have and a serious one is that if we continue to get thrashed like we suffered against Pakistan, ICC will not shy away to show us the door . In otherwords there is great danger that we might lose test status which was earned after years of toil of Cricketers, Coaches, BCB and others .

Already Australia slammed the door with regards to playing tests matches with us.
It implies we are not capable to play test cricket with them . What an insult to us? When we get knocked out inside 3 days we hardly have any defense. Do we?

The other very serious problem that has creeped lately in the players is lack of motivation to do better. How can one team win or give their best when they think what they are doing is satisfactory as expressed by Aftab and Ashraful ?

What sort of motivation and moral is now existing with our players?

I have never seen our players with moral and motivation so low under any of the Ex Coaches- Dave Whatmore and Gordon Greenidge.

I just one to reiterate here that if we do not perform to a minimum which should be at least one victory or a tie against the opposition in the upcoming series which unfortunately is against the cricket heavyweights I won't be surprised if ICC takes any extreme measure to maintain quality and standard of Cricket.

I still believe if Bangladesh had a Coach like John Wright or somebody with actual Head Coach experience results would have been far better.

I am not sure why BCB did not utilize an influential person like Ashraful Haq in their Coach hunt. Ashraful Haq as an ACC executive could have used his influence with the ICC and ACC to help land us a better Coach.

Siddons I reckon will do well in improving the batting of both our senior and junior team because of his proven experience with Senior Austrian cricket team as a Specialist Batting Coach.

But in areas of Tactics, Game plan, Bowling and Fielding, Motivation it is time we look beyond .

[RazabQ]

Nasu is still with the team as an analyst. The best laid plans amount to nothing if not properly executed. End of story.

[desirocker]

let's have one batting and one bowling coach & let them both have the duty of head coach. Fielding coach is also needed for us.

[ehteshamul]

Originally Posted by crikfreak
siddons should be our batting coach.. not head coach..he's brought some improvements in a few players with their batting.. but seriously.. our overall performance has gone downhill.. fielding has become poor and even our bowling attack has become weaker.. siddons needs to look into all of these problems.. i don't think he's doing that.. and as for a series against the zimbos.. can't we have one against bermuda?? i'm not sure if these guys can still beat zimbabwe the way they are going..

Series Victory - One.
Academic interest as it was against Ireland- Associate Member of ICC.

3 Series losses: New Zealand, South Africa and Pakistan .

Team Performance: Overall Team Performance Very Poor.

Individual batting Pretty good actually: Tammim, Nafees( per Ireland success), Junaed (Per NewZealand Success), Riyad, Sakib, Dhiman.

Batting Failure: Ashraful, Aftab.

Opening Pair: Only One consistently Performing - Tammim.

Rest : Flop Masters.

Top order – Consistent Failure: Ashraful, Aftab.
.
Middle Order: Saqib, Riyad, Dhiman – Good Improvements.

Bowling – Downhill
Mashrafe (up and down).

Rasel lost his sharpness and striking abilities.

Razzaq – lost his form and Wicket Taking Abilities.

Shahadat –Great Improvements – SURELY A POSITIVE FROM SIDDONS.

Fielding: Downhill (Much poorer than Whatmore period).

Expectation/Goal – It will put a Bangladesh kid to shame when He/She listens Guruji to the fact:

Siddons wants us to crawl from 9 to 8 to 7 by 2011.

By the look of things under his present Vision and Tactics even that seems a remote possibility.

Even a small School going Kid knows he has to set a Goal/target for himself in order to do better in the exam.

If the Kid sets a Goal/Target that he wants to get 100 in Math’s, chances are he will end up in the 80 - 90 range unless he is an outstanding one and gets 100.

Now if the Kid reduces his Goal/Target to 80 he will probably end up in the 60 - 70 range.

If the Kid sets a goal of 60 the passing grade ( I do not know if that is the correct one for us now in BD context for schools ) and if he is lucky he will scrape through but chances are the Kid may fail.

Siddons has gone on record saying it is unrealistic for us to Win The World Cup in 2011.

We all know it is next to impossible. My point is what is the problem of setting a Higher Expectation/Goal.

When one sets Higher Expectation/Goal there is the inner hunger /effort/initiative to do better. Even if they can leap 2 positions higher at 2011, it will be a good achievement .But if you say at the very outset we cannot do it. It is a defeatist mentality unbecoming of a Head Coach.

We all know that Coach Siddons cannot solve so many problems that are confronting us

I will pinpoint a few:

Average pace attack- none is a master of swing bowling capable of quick dislodging opposition core batting line up.

Our Batsman are not accustomed to bouncy pitches because we don’t have one. So how de we expect to have our batsmen do well abroad which are predominantly tailor made Bouncy pitches.

Unstable Opening pair. Only One performing -Tammim Iqbal.

The opening batsmen are expected to set up a decent total for the subsequent middle order and tail enders to finish up with a decent Score. That is not happening.

Fielding – Hardly anything to write about. They say Catches win Matches especially if tthe top batsman gets a Life you don’t get a second chance and the fate of the match is changed. We are indeed poor in this department.

Captaincy – Captain is not performing at all - How can a non performing Captain motivate the team?

Siddons and BCB are making selectoral blunders. They are exposing stroke makers Aftab, Ashraful upfront at 3, 4 positions. How long can these players curb their natural style? It simply does not work work and has ended up in disastrous results for them and the team.

Siddons is trying them to change Batting Style.

For experienced players at an advanced stage it is dificult to change their batting style.

Siddons have so far been unable to do that with Ash, Aftab because they have become accustomed to a style which is difficult to change. That is one of the prime reason of Ash and Aftab’s failure because Siddons is trying them to change their style.

Lack Of Vision, Game Plan.

The Head Coach requires a lot of future Vision, Game Plan for the team to succeed .Siddons is not on the same mould as Dav Whatmore. With him we are experimenting a Batting Coach in a new role of Head Coach.

It is a Trial and Error. We had no choices because he was the best available one at that time as nobody was willing to become our Coach .

Trial and Error in any form takes time to work out compared to a Proven one. The results are there for everyone to see with Dav Whatmore a proven Performer ( Masterminded Sri Lanka to win World Cup in 1996 } bringing us some great victories against the top teams against Jamie Siddons (Batting Coach with zero experience of Head Coach ) struggling to find victories for us.

One hopes Siddons will restrategise and Gift us some Victories.

All the best Guru Siddons.

[reyme]

Siddons questionsA LOT lately about our crickers are not being reday for international level. They are inconsistent, dont have the capability of beting elite teams. So is ut not case his sole purpose to be here?

My question is is he actually able to take this team to the next level? does he posses what it takes in terms game plan, prudency, understanding the proper puudency wwhat will make our players go out in the field with HIGHEST morale?

So far all I see, he lacks quality motivating players, prudncy is game plan and team selection, lacks enough knowledge about opposition players, and the list goes on. Siddons by no means a capable test team coach. He talks big, but net result or the net output is a big ZERO. Head coaching job should be given to a more senior coach who is not only a proven coah at the highest level, but also a great motivator.

Those who want wait and give Siddons one more year or two, will be disppointed just like the Siddons is and will continue to disappoint sires after series and game after game. It is time to take this guy out of the payroll.

[ehteshamul]

Originally Posted by reyme
Siddons questionsA LOT lately about our crickers are not being reday for international level. They are inconsistent, dont have the capability of beting elite teams. So is ut not case his sole purpose to be here?

My question is is he actually able to take this team to the next level? does he posses what it takes in terms game plan, prudency, understanding the proper puudency wwhat will make our players go out in the field with HIGHEST morale?

So far all I see, he lacks quality motivating players, prudncy is game plan and team selection, lacks enough knowledge about opposition players, and the list goes on. Siddons by no means a capable test team coach. He talks big, but net result or the net output is a big ZERO. Head coaching job should be given to a more senior coach who is not only a proven coah at the highest level, but also a great motivator.

Those who want wait and give Siddons one more year or two, will be disppointed just like the Siddons is and will continue to disappoint sires after series and game after game. It is time to take this guy out of the payroll.

Hello Reyme,

Thanks for sharing your views on Siddons. You are spot on.

By the way I see you are in Seattle, Washington. What a beautiful place!

Some years back I was at Bellevue, WA .But my workplace was at Seattle.

I have many sweet memories there - especially Mount Rainiers and Boeing Museum at Renton and off course Space Needle where from the top you have a whole view of the city.

There was a Fisheman market near the beach. Is it still there?

Does it still rain most of the months? In terms of scenic beauty it resembles so much with Chittagong.

Sorry to discuss non cricketing matters. When I saw you are from Seattle I could not resist myself from asking you the above. Hope you don't mind.

Cheers!

[jeesh]

I d say give it a few more months before judging him. We dont exactly know whats going on in the camps, his methods, his vision etc.
Personally i am not a fan of chopping coaches without giving them time to prove themselves. And add to that Siddons is dealing with quite a lot of inexperienced players. Ashraful is supposed to be one of the senior players- can you imagine. Now Dav is one of the best of all time, but a big difference is he had quite a few senior players in the camp.

I didnt like BCB appointing Shaun Williams as the assistant coach, because clearly Shauns approach wont work with our players. Now i hope Siddons isnt approaching our players with Shaun's mindset. If he is a good coach, he would have figured that out by now. What we need is a task master who can bring in discipline, and kill complacency. Ideally i would have loved Tom Moody as our head coach, i think even McIness could have been more effective.

[ehteshamul]

Originally Posted by jeesh
I d say give it a few more months before judging him. We dont exactly know whats going on in the camps, his methods, his vision etc.
Personally i am not a fan of chopping coaches without giving them time to prove themselves. And add to that Siddons is dealing with quite a lot of inexperienced players. Ashraful is supposed to be one of the senior players- can you imagine. Now Dav is one of the best of all time, but a big difference is he had quite a few senior players in the camp.

I didnt like BCB appointing Shaun Williams as the assistant coach, because clearly Shauns approach wont work with our players. Now i hope Siddons isnt approaching our players with Shaun's mindset. If he is a good coach, he would have figured that out by now. What we need is a task master who can bring in discipline, and kill complacency. Ideally i would have loved Tom Moody as our head coach, i think even McIness could have been more effective.

Hello Jeesh,

Very Good observations and Insights.

I appreciate your useful insights on Siddons which has become a burning issue for all of us.

Take care.

Cheers!

[ehteshamul]

SIDDONS PERFORMANCE UPDATE

The just concluded Bangladesh VS Pakistan one day match at Dhaka on June 8 2008 was an acid test for Siddons.

How has he performed?

This is how I perceive Siddons’s and Team performance .

Activity Grade

Team Bowling B

Team Fielding A

Team Fightback A

Team Batting F

Team Selection B

Siddons Vision F

Siddons Game Plan F

Team Motivation D

Where :
A = excellent ( 80%–100%)
B = good (70%–79%)
C = average (60%–69%)
D = poor (50%–59%)
F = failing (remedial action necessary, 0%–49%) .

Recommendation:Drastic change needed in our batting and His Vision needs to be positive - the goal for us should be to score 275 +. and GO FOR THE KILL.

No defensive method tactics: A one day match should be played in a One day spirit otherwise the definition of One day becomes a mockery.

Game Plan: Should have multiple option game plan.

IF A option does not work try B
ELSE C
ELSE D
ELSIF E

Overall Grade : C

Team motivation : He should motivate the players by auto suggestions such as :

WE ARE CAPABLE OF BEATING ANY TEAM.
WE ARE GOING TO BEAT THE OPPOSING TEAM TODAY
WE CAN DO IT!
WE ARE THE BEST!
WE HAVE DONE IT IN THE PAST . WE WILL DO IT AGAIN
WE WILL PROVE AGAIN THAT WE CAN BEAT ANYBODY.

Auto suggestion works wonders to enhance the mental strength.

Allah Hafez.

Cheers!

[AsifTheManRahman]

Originally Posted by ehteshamul
WE ARE THE BEST!

That's not motivation - that's a shameless, blatant lie.

[zainab]

IMO, Siddons is destroying this team. Morale and confidence has never been so low. It shows in the body language of the players, they do not seem to be enjoying their cricket, IMO it is more of an ordeal for them and they are only going through the motions of playing cricket. I only saw a bit of spark in their fielding and I do have to credit Mushy for this. the team was really missing his enthusiam on the field.

Ash was in mental pain because he was playing in a way that he is not used to playing, he was trying to stay at the crease until the 40th over, just to ensure that BD batted out the 40th over. as the wickets were falling around him, he made up his mind to defend and not to score.
I hope BCB is not too dumb to recognize this and do something about it, or else this will kill BD cricket.
Siddons does not spend enough time with the team. It seems that he is always in a holiday mood, I wonder if he is going to take a short break after this series. He should be having at least a week of training camp with them before they leave for pakistan for the Asian cup, where we all pray that they win a few games.

[Gowza]

of course it seems more of an oreal now, they're actually having to work hard for their cricket. think of it like this, if you got to play however you wanted for you're whole life then one-day there's a new coach who says you can't do that anymore you have to do things differently then of course players are going to struggle with it.

they're use to being able to do whatever they want without any responsibility or accountability. siddons is trying to teach them that they have to be responsible and accountable and honestly that's part of being a professional cricketer, if the players have a problem with that then they should go find another profession otherwise put your head down, bum up and work your tail off.

doesn't excuse siddon's lack of effort in some area's but this is something the players have to learn to deal with, they can't always just play the way they find the most fun and they can't always practice like it's a hit and giggle session.

[ehteshamul]

Originally Posted by AsifTheManRahman
That's not motivation - that's a shameless, blatant lie.

AUTO SUGGESTION AND ITS BENEFITS

Hello Asif Bhaiyya.

The autosuggestion that I cited and you objected and rightly so from your perspective is based on one of the best techniques of meditation called the 'Mirror of Mind' which essentially states :

What the mind can conceive of,
vivdly prgram for,
and believe in..
It can achieve!

It is used as one of the techniques of Meditation for The Silva method which you must be familiar as it became popular in Dhaka and also in North America under a different name ' Dynamind' a customized version of The Silva method .

What I implied was if the players programme themselves with auto Suggestions at Alpha Level stage in Dynamic Programming LIKE 'WE ARE THE BEST! IT WOULD INSTILL SELF HYNPONOSIS IN THEM INTO BELEIVING IT AND IMPLEMENTING IT AS WELL AND CONSEQUENTLY enhance theIr level of performance which I may dare say now is at its lowest ebb.

The mirror of mind is really a cool stuff for geting rid of negativity, low expectations
Setting High Goals and achieving it.There are many more.

Off course it requres a lot of practice to master it. But when you master it your success in different fields knows no bounds.

When I took the retake of Dymanind in toronto I was amazed by the success stories of people of different background.

I hope this helps to understand what I implied for the auto suggestion 'WE ARE THE BEST'.

Allah Hafez.

Cheers!