Bangladesh finished on 245 in the second innings of the Antigua Test against West Indies, more than doubling their first innings total of 103. But head coach Russell Domingo wasn’t impressed with his batters in either innings, saying their performance was simply “not good enough”.
“It’s not good. In both innings too many soft dismissals and too many poor decisions with the batting,” Domingo said in the post-day press conference on Saturday.
“103 runs in the first innings, could’ve gotten more than that, and 245 in the second innings, could’ve gotten more than that. So it’s the bottom line. Too many soft dismissals in this particular Test match,” the South African added.
Domingo feels that the batters in the team are lacking in confidence.
“Batters are all low on confidence at the moment. Some of the big players Mominul (Haque), (Najmul Hossain) Shanto are low in confidence. In cricket, confidence is a big thing and at the moment they just don’t have that confidence in their batting,” he said.
Half-centuries from skipper Shakib Al Hasan and wicketkeeper-batsman Nurul Hasan helped Bangladesh avoid an innings defeat and set West Indies a puny 84-run target.
Khaled Ahmed gave Bangladesh hopes of pulling off an unlikely victory by claiming three wickets in his first three overs to reduce the hosts to 9-3.
Opener John Campbell and Jermaine Blackwood then formed a 40-run stand as West Indies ended the third day’s play needing 35 runs to win the match and go 1-0 up in the two-Test series.
Domingo heaped praises on the Bangladesh bowlers for the fight back, especially Khaled Ahmed.
“The bowlers bowled fantastically in both innings and to keep them on 260 on that pitch is a fantastic effort. Very proud of the bowlers’ effort in these last couple of days,” said Domingo.
“He [Khaled] bowled nicely in the second innings and picked up a few good wickets but still got a lot of improving to do and there is no doubt about that,” he added.