We didn't bowl well at all: Afghan coach Trott

Afghanistan men's national team coach Jonathan Trott felt his charges bowled poorly on the first day of their one-off Test match against Bangladesh at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur on Wednesday.

Afghan bowlers were expensive throughout the day after winning the toss in the extremely hot and humid condition as Bangladesh finished the day on 362-5.

"We didn't bowl well at all. We weren't accurate enough at all. You have to be accurate if you want to be competitive in Test cricket. We weren't able to put the opposition under pressure. We did it for a little bit, but not for long enough,' said Trott at the post-day press conference.

Debutant Nitat Masood got off to a dream debut as he got wicket in the very first ball of his Test career in the second over of the day. It seemed the decision of bowling first paid off but the visitors could not hold discipline in the bowling throughout the day. They not only gave away too many boundary balls but also as many as 15 no balls and seven wide balls to ease the pressure off the hosts.

"I don't think we bowled as well as we should have. I think there's a bit in the wicket. We saw that when we got the ball in the right areas consistently for long enough, we created chances. All the things we need to do well in Test cricket, to do things relentlessly and to be accurate and precise. We need to do better tomorrow. It was a good lesson for the guys," said Trott, the former English international.

Bangladesh scored with a run-rate of over 4.5 throughout the day and the Afghan coach believed his bowlers had to take the blame.

"I think we helped them with the way we bowled. I think if we had bowled better, we would have limited their run-rate."

The sloppy bowling from the Afghans saw them bowling only 79 overs despite consuming extra half an hour but the coach defended his charges in this regard.

"There was a lot of cramping. There were also a lot of stoppages. Bangladesh players were always taking off their thigh guards. I think it was 45 (degrees) in the middle for most of the day. That's pretty extreme for Test cricket. Never mind even T20s or ODIs. Good learning curve for our boys."

The experience between the sides also played a big deal, thought Trott, who was born in South Africa but played 52 Tests for England.

"I am seeing a lot of players for the first time. They are not involved in the T20s and ODIs, the formats that Afghanistan generally plays a lot of. We have some good, talented players. We are missing a few players. But that's no excuse. Players here are good enough."

"Bangladesh are playing 12 Tests in the next calendar year. Afghanistan has played one in 27 months. It shows the difference of average experience in terms of how many Tests that some of the Bangladesh players have played. You can't buy that. Some of the players have played 10-15 FC matches, and are playing a Test match today. Those are the tough things. Teams like Afghanistan and Bangladesh had to start somewhere. In the Test arena, this is that phase for Afghanistan."

But the 42-year-old has seen enough Test matches to know a team can always come back and he was expecting so from his side.

"It would be nice (to get them bowled out before lunch). We have the new ball again in one over. Hopefully Nijat and the seamers can bowl well tomorrow. The guys learned about the extreme heat today."