Russell Domingo: Hard to be in camps 'without knowing your end goal'

Bangladesh coach Russell Domingo speaks to the players during training © Raton Gomes/BCB

Russell Domingo, Bangladesh’s head coach, agrees that it has been tough on the players to be in a training camp that has no international cricket at the end of it and feels that there might not be any point to “going on forever” at camps, that too away from loved ones.

“We want to try to involve as many players as we can in this camp but we also can’t have the camp going on forever,” Domingo said on Friday. “We had it for about six or seven days the first time, and now we will have it for another ten days or so. Until the situation improves, this is the best you can do in terms of length of a camp. It is very hard to have guys in a camp for a month without seeing anybody and without knowing your end goal.”

The second phase of the training camp got underway on Thursday with the 27-man preliminary squad originally chosen for the Sri Lanka tour. The first camp lasted seven days and ended on September 27, but even though the tour was called off, the BCB called them back for two more weeks of training in Mirpur, with the players staying in a hotel in a bio-secure bubble.

We just have to make the best of a bad situation at the moment. Everyone is fine, happy. Missing families, obviously. But we also have to do a job, and provide for our families. So we have to bite the bullet

“You mustn’t practice just for the sake of practice,” he added. “It has to be for specific goal. It has to be focused, professional and specific. Not just to tick a box, make people happy and show the media that we are practicing. We practice to get better, but we also need to give players time off to keep them fresh and inspire them to come back and work harder in the game. We have to conscious with players’ lives and needs as well.”

Domingo, who like the other foreign coaches have completed four weeks in Dhaka and been in the bubble the whole time, only commuting between the team hotel and the Shere Bangla National Stadium, said that he was trying to encourage players to speak up about their own issues in the restricted environment.

“I think you must have constant discussion with the players. We are trying to encourage a culture in the team where players are comfortable coming forward and discussing whatever issues they’ve got,” he said. “I think we are still trying to get to that place. Some guys will hold it in a little bit more, some guys will be more expressive about it.

Russell Domingo and Mominul Haque have a chat while training © AFP

“At the moment everybody is fine. I don’t see any issues. If there are, we will provide the players with as much support as we can. We do know everybody is different and there are various challenges that people face. So far so good. I have loved my first month here. It is good to be back at cricket. It would be nice if we could play some serious games but it is what it is.

“We just have to make the best of a bad situation at the moment. Everyone is fine, happy. Missing families, obviously. But we also have to do a job, and provide for our families. So we have to bite the bullet.”

Although the BCB has announced that it was actively preparing to begin domestic cricket within a month, the senior team’s next series, at home against West Indies in January, also hinges on the Covid-19 situation in the country, which has so far not shown much signs of improvement. That said, the time off could help players – like Shadman Islam, Mustafizur Rahman and Najmul Hossain Shanto – whose games need a bit of attention.

“We are trying to change Shadman’s stance a little bit. His backswing. He used to stand upright in his stance. We are trying to get his bat down on the ground which will allow him to swing the bat up and get a little bit more force when he hits the ball. This type of change is difficult when you have a match in a week’s time. It is a change that needs couple of weeks or maybe a month to get accustomed to,” Domingo explained. “The way Shanto plays spin, he gets his head falling over. We are trying to get his head up a little bit more. Ottis [Gibson, the fast-bowling coach] is trying to get Mustafizur to shape the ball back in the right-hander. Hopefully we can see some of that tomorrow when he is bowling with the new ball.”

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Source: ESPN Crickinfo