DHAKA Cricketing minnows Bangladesh have taken a major step forward with recent wins over Zimbabwe and the West Indies, the team's coach said on Wednesday, adding they should no longer be taken lightly.
Australian-born Jamie Siddons said Bangladesh's 4-1 One Day International series victory over Zimbabwe and a historic Test and one-day series clean-sweep in the Caribbean showed the team was on track 'for big things in the future'.
'We all know that we have a long way to go to be classed as a real threat to the top four teams but they will no longer take us lightly,' Siddons said.
'I hope that all of those who saw fit to criticise this team of young cricketers can now admit that there is definite signs of us improving.'
Questions have been raised about Bangladesh's Test status since it joined the circuit in 2000 because of the weakness of the side.
In June this year, the team failed to get past the first round at the World Twenty20 Championships after losing a crucial match against Ireland - prompting Siddons to brand the batting 'ridiculous'.
In September last year, more than a dozen players quit the national team to play for the rebel Twenty20 Indian Cricket League but Siddons said recent success showed the side had moved on.
'I believe that the players, though still very young and on the whole very inexperienced, have just shown the wisdom and improvement that comes with time,' he said.
'This group is gaining more and more confidence at this level and will continue to improve as time goes on.'
He praised Shakib Al Hasan, who led the team to victory after captain Mashrafe Mortaza hurt his right knee while bowling in the first Test match against the West Indies at Kingstown, St Vincent, last month.
The 25-year-old fast bowler Mortaza missed the rest of the tour - during which the West Indies fielded a weakened side due to a wage strike - and has recently had knee surgery in Australia.
'Shakib's captaincy was successful although at times his youth was tested and his patience with others of lesser ability in his team tested,' Siddons said.
'He led magnificently with his own performance throughout the tour, and I think won three or four man of the match awards and man of the series as well.'
Siddons said Bangladesh would return to Zimbabwe in October and would play Sri Lanka, India and England at home in the New Year. A tour to New Zealand in early 2010 had also been scheduled. —AFP
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