Cricket Update: Mortaza will lead Bengali tigers in 2011 World Cup – Siddons
26 years old pacer http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ireland-c751 in June.
At that time, the national coach of Bangladesh had said that the management would reassess the captaincy situation at the end of tour. Mashrafe Mortaza sparked with the bat and ball during the tour that was duly valued by the coach and selectors of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 Cricket by awarding him the captaincy of side until 2011 World Cup, where Bangladesh would be one of the three Asian hosts of the prestigious event. Siddons in an interview with a sports channel confirmed that Mortaza would be leading Bangladesh side until next year’s World Cup.
"Mash did a really good job in England so I guess he has it until the World Cup - without a doubt, injury-free, he will be the one to lead us in the World Cup," said the Bangladesh coach.
Talking about former skipper Shakib Al Hasan, Siddons praised his performance during the tour of England and Ireland but he said that Shakib himself does not feel himself fit for the job, rather he wants to focus on his own game, while Mortaza enjoys leading a team. "Shakib did a great job but he didn't want it to continue, he wanted to focus on his cricket more and Mashrafe was quite happy to take over the reins."
It was early 2009, when Bangladesh Cricket Board considered Mortaza for the role of captaincy for the first time, after the then captain Mohammad Ashraful’s position as captain came under scrutiny. However, it took BCB almost six months in finalizing its decision before the board relieved Ashraful of captaincy in June 2009. Mortaza was appointed as Bangladesh skipper for the tours of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 and Zimbabwe. Mortaza’s captaincy went off to a winning start with a Test victory against West Indies. An injury during the same match led to Shakib al Hasan's elevation to the captaincy and prevented him from competitive cricket until February 2010.
Looking ahead to the prestigious event of World Cup, Jamie Siddons was sure that his side would exploit the favourable Asian conditions. Siddons’ also hauled the efforts of fielding Coach Julien Fountain. The fielding coach is helping out the Bangali pacers with their slower balls.
Fielding is something that can turn the tables round at any instant during a match and the Bangladesh coaches are well aware of its importance. Both Siddons and Fountain are focusing on fielding as well and are hopeful that by the 2011 World Cup the side will have a very systematic and able fielding group. He is also doing a great job with the fielding and has delivered some key fielding techniques to the players.
Bengali tigers are due to test their nerves against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zimbabwe-c3045 Ahead of the World Cup, which kicks off in February 2011. Siddons was confident of Bangladesh’s prospects in both the series. Siddons said that his belief as a coach is to improve day by day, so he is currently focusing on the series against New Zealand in October this year. He believes that his men will put up good showing against Kiwis and they have the calibre of winning the series. After the series against Black Caps, Siddons wants his tigers to play a must win series against Zimbabwe, as it will serve as a really good morale boost towards their next assignment, the World Cup 2011.
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