DHAKA, June 12, 2019 (BSS)-West Indies’ fast bowlers had already created an uproar by bowling with extreme pace and energy in this World Cup and
terrorized the batsmen with a barrage of short balls aiming at north of 90
miles at regular basis.
But Bangladesh looked confident to deal with them when they take on the
Caribbean side on June 17 at Taunton.
Tigers head coach Steve Rhodes said that the West Indian pacers are very
well known to his charges and they are quite aware of their strength and
weakness considering they have encountered them quite often in the recent
past.
“We played against West Indies bowlers in Ireland recently. Oshane Thomas
as well, we played against him in Bangladesh just before Christmas,” Rhodes
told reporters after the washed-out game against West Indies.
”So, we are well aware of what they got and we know what’s coming. We got
plans to try and deal with that,” he said. Bangladesh recently won the tri-
series in Ireland featuring West Indies and Ireland and in that series
Bangladeshi batsmen handled the pace of Sheldon Cottrel, Kemar Roach and
Jason Holder very well.
Tigers clinched their maiden multi-nation tournament championship after
beating West Indies in the final.
Steve Rhodes’s Bangladesh also faced a similar West Indies bowling attack
in Bangladesh in 2018. In that bilateral series, Bangladesh won that ODI
series 2-1. These two series have given Rhodes confidence that Bangladeshi
batsmen are good enough to play the West Indies pace bowlers.
Bangladesh coach is happy with the way Bangladesh team has played the ODI
cricket, against South Africa they faced pacers really well. But in the last
match against England Bangladeshi batsmen struggled against Archer’s extreme
pace. Rhodes praised Archer in the press conference and admitted that he was
too hot to handle.
“I am very happy the way we have played white ball particularly when it’s
short. I think you have seen some of our games particularly against South
Africa, that didn’t worry us. I think the England game was the class of
Archer’s special pace. He is difficult to pick up as well.” He added.
With just three points under the belt after four matches, Bangladesh’s game
against West Indies turned out to be a must win game for them.