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ESPNcricinfo staff
December 15, 2011
Bangladesh coach Stuart Law has said the team has to get the experience of playing more four-day games if their Test record has to improve. He suggested it would help to play such games against non-Test playing teams during the off season.
His views echo that of the captain Mushfiqur Rahim, who blamed the run of defeats on the lack of infrastructure in the country's first-class set-up. In the first Test against Pakistan at Chittagong, Bangladesh made 135 and 275 and went on to lose by an innings and 184 runs in less than four days.
"Four-day cricket is where you produce your Test players from. The more you play, the easier it gets," Law said. "Bangladesh haven't played a lot of Tests in the years they've been involved. Some players have been around for 5-6 years but haven't played a lot of Tests.
"If you play a lot of ODIs but not Test cricket, something's got to give. Hopefully the cricket board and players can come up with some program so that they can get enough four-dayers in before Test matches. The other option is to play longer forms of game against the associate nations, especially in the downtime when Bangladesh are not playing cricket."
Bangladesh's batting has let them down this year. In eight Test innings they have gone past 300 just once and none of their batsmen have managed a century. Mushfiqur said this stemmed from the inability of batsmen to get big scores in first-class cricket. No player has scored more than two centuries in this year's National Cricket League, which is currently in its second phase.
Law acknowledged that it would take a lot for his team to get over the loss ahead of the second Test in Mirpur starting on Saturday.
"It is a difficult thing to come out of. Having been a player in a similar situation where you don't know where your next run is coming from, it can engulf you," Law said. "The easiest thing to do is, as I've been telling the players, don't lose sight of what makes you successful. We have to be up there mentally when the game starts, to want to do the hard yards. It has been a sign for million years that the longer we bat, the more runs we score."
On the bowling front, Law said there was plenty to be learnt by observing Pakistan's varied attack.
"Although Pakistan are playing very good cricket, there's nothing in their bowling attack we should not want to face. They have always had class seamers who can swing the new ball and get the old ball reversing. Saeed Ajmal is one of the best to watch, has lots of tricks up his sleeve. He puts batsmen under pressure. He's more like (Muttiah) Muralitharan in the sense that he's more of a wrist spinner than an offspinner."
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