Mottau wants less shots

[chinaman]

Owen Mottau believes that the Bangladeshi batsmen have shown marked improvement during the tour of Zimbabwe but there was still room to work on their shot selection before the Tigers visit the West Indies next month.

The Sri Lanka-born Australian batting coach, who had a brief stint with the Bangladeshi players before they left for Zimbabwe, is back in Dhaka to assist Tigers coach Dav Whatmore in preparing the team for their maiden tour of the Caribbean. Habibul Bashar's men fly off to the Caribbean in the first week of May to play two Tests and three one-day internationals.

"Definitely they have improved. However, they must learn to curb the tendency of playing too many shots once set at the wicket," said Mottau after the first full training session of the 24 probables at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday. He was also delighted with Bangladesh's one-day international victory against Zimbabwe that ended a 47-match losing streak but noted that they still needed to curb their over-attacking instincts.

"They made a few silly mistakes and also went for excessive shot making. I think they will overcome their flaws in the nets," Mottau said.

Whatmore, who returned to Dhaka after spending a ten-day vacation with his family, agreed with Mottau's observation. "The boys played too many shots in Zimbabwe and I think Owen (Mottau) can correct the mistakes in the nets before the demanding tour of the West Indies," said Whatmore.

Whatmore thought the Bang-ladesh A team's triumph over visiting Zimbabwe A in the four-day and one-day series' recently was a massive inspiration for everyone associated with the country's cricket. "It was a great achievement as Bangladesh won both the series'. I don't think we have ever won anything like this. This is just an indication of Bangladesh's step-by-step improvement," said Whatmore, who expressed his satisfaction at Alok Kapali's return to form with the bat during the series.

Whatmore however, was keen on having a specialist bowling coach at the training camp. "I think Sarwar Imran and one of our selectors Prince (Golam Nowsher) can help the boys out in this department," he added.

Whatmore is presently armed with as many as three aids and a fourth is set to join. American baseball coach Mike Young, who worked with the unconquerable Australian side as a fielding coach for quite some time, is expected at the camp on April 13.


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[Zephaniah]

Yeah. It's about time to emphasize on shot selection. Even Tendulkar is doing it this days. Ash's recent success (well he was pretty dismal in recent home series against Zim A) reflects that as well.