The Tigers enjoyed a bit of golf yesterday at the Kurmitola course, winding up the three-week preparation camp that comes to a close today ahead of the Eid holidays. Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah Riyad turned out to be the 'best' golfers among the national players.
They had fun spending almost two hours at the serene greenery of the golf course and through learning the game, the batsmen incorporated the golf swing into their back-lift, something that Jamie Siddons has drilled into the batsmen's psyche ever since he began his work as head coach in late 2007.
But while sending the team to the golf course is innovative, Siddons had to go back to the basics with his bowlers during this particular camp at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. He spent a lot of time with the bowlers, sacrificing his coaching time for the other skills.
"I promised myself that I would work a lot more with the bowlers from now on and as we don't have a bowling coach at the moment, I feel I am the best person to help them develop their skills," said Siddons. "Unfortunately this may come at the cost of my time that I usually spend with the batsmen," he said.
Siddons has been quietly praised in the cricketing circle for improving the batsmen's approach and he is trying to do the same with the bowlers.
"I am particularly working on getting them to understand and appreciate the correct area to bowl and how they can achieve this on a more consistent basis. I am also very keen for all of them to learn how to swing the ball, whether it is new or old," added Siddons.
The Australian even had his new fielding coach, Julian Fountain, teach the fast men some new techniques with the slower ball and Siddons was frank enough to say that this time, the improvement in bowling can be directed towards the head coach himself.
"They have also been trying to learn some new slower ball variations that they have been shown by Julian Fountain, the fielding coach. I am enjoying the time with the pace bowlers very much and at least I am now more responsible for their efforts," said Siddons.
The former batsman however did not want to give his bowlers any set plan, but simply asked them to be consistent with their areas.
"Before you can expect them to bowl to any plan you must first give them the technical ability to bowl the ball in the area that they want to bowl consistently," he informed.
But Siddons was realistic enough to say that a bowling coach would not materialise before New Zealand are here to play the five-match one-day series.
"I don't think we will have a bowling coach before New Zealand arrive. I think it is very important that we do not just get any bowling coach, he must be the right person for the job and he must be committed to the improvement of our players not just looking to further his career.
"He must be determined to join the team of coaches in our mission to have some great performances in the World Cup.
"We are a young team who are very much in the developmental stage and as such the player need a lot of specialist one-on-one coaching to help them achieve their full potential in the future," said Siddons.
He also admitted that apart from a bowling coach, who is presumed to be helping the fast bowlers mostly, he also would like the assistance of a spin bowling coach.
"It would be ideal to have a fast bowling coach during the camp, but it would also be great to have a spin bowling coach as well. We have to strengthen our fast bowling department and also continue to develop our spinners, as they are our strength at the moment," he said.
"However I'm always very aware that there are limitations that may make this impossible. Finance may be just one of them," he said jokingly.
Source: thedailystar.net
