KARACHI, April 6: Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons remained optimistic that the forthcoming one-day series against hosts Pakistan would do his charges a world of good despite their haphazard ride in international cricket.

Bangladesh, who are to play five One-day Internationals and a one-off Twenty20 International in a hastily-arranged tour, arrived in the city earlier in the morning before leaving for Lahore late in the afternoon.

Siddons, the 43-year-old Australian who took over the job late last year after his compatriot Dave Whatmore astounded most people by guiding Bangladesh to the Super Eight round of the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean, had no hesitation in saying his team had the potential to go far.

“As far as we are concerned the results matter little to us because the Bangladeshis are not that strong at the moment. This side is very young both in terms of age and experience. But there is a lot of talent in the squad,” Siddons told a press conference here.

Siddons, who played a One-day International when he toured Pakistan with Allan Border’s Australian team in 1988-89, expressed the hope that Bangladesh would partially compensate after Australia pulled out of their scheduled Test and ODI tour of Pakistan for security reasons.

“The reason that we are here is because Pakistan were looking for competition. I believe this short series would benefit both teams. For Bangladesh the coming one-dayers will help a lot since we are due to tour Pakistan again in a couple of months for the Asia Cup,” he stressed.

Siddons, however, pointed out that Bangladesh need to be playing well consistently in the series to challenge Pakistan.

“The past results show that Pakistan had dominated overwhelmingly [one win for Bangladesh in 18 ODIs against Pakistan], but we have the potential to surprise the opponents. Overall, Pakistan have done well and that is why they are ranked fifth and we ninth.”

“Touch wood, if all goes well it should be an exciting series since we have a nice blend of players with some having the potential to become world-class performers,” he said. “Give them time to improve. Personally, I’m looking forward to the next couple of years. We hope to be a good side by then.” The coach defended his team’s poor record in One-day Internationals – 39 wins in 172 matches, including just six victories against current Test-playing nations. “Everyone has been talking how inconsistent we are. Bangladesh has shown that they can beat the best side in the world on their day but they are also capable of losing to a mediocre side. But we would like to prove that wrong in this series.”

Mohammad Ashraful, the 23-year-old who succeeded Habibul Bashar as Bangladesh skipper last year, felt his team had the ability to do well against Shoaib Malik’s side.

“As the coach said our team is on a learning curve. To trouble the Pakistan side we have to be at the very top of our game,” a shy Ashraful told reporters. “The coming series will be challenging from our point of view because Pakistan are a very good side.”

Ashraful said the absence of the banned Shoaib Akhtar and the injured Mohammad Asif would make little impact since Pakistan had a good bowling attack.

“Both Shoaib and Asif have not played for a while so I don’t think Pakistan would suffer greatly. Even without them, Pakistan have done quite well with other bowlers,” he opined.

He hoped that Bangladesh would carry forward the momentum they had gained by beating Ireland 3-0 after being soundly thrashed by South Africa by a similar margin.

The five-match series starts on Tuesday with the first opener in Lahore. The two teams will also play a Twenty20 International in Karachi On April 20.

Squad: Mohammad Ashraful (captain), Mashrafe Mortaza (vice-captain), Tamim Iqbal, Junaid Siddique, Aftab Ahmed, Nazimuddin, Shahriar Nafees, Saqibul Hasan, Dhiman Ghosh, Abdur Razzak, Mahmudullah, Shahadat Hossain, Syed Rasel, Farhad Reza, Raqibul Hasan.

Officials: Jamie Siddons (coach), Shafiqul Haque (team-cum-media manager), Shaun Williams (assistant coach), Darryn Lifsun (physiotherapist), Sarwar Imran (bowling coach), Mohammad Salahuddin (fielding coach), Nasir Ahmed (computer analyst). Schedule:

April 8: First ODI (Lahore, D/N).

April 11: Second ODI (Faisalabad, D/N).

April 13: Third ODI (Lahore, D/N).

April 16: Fourth ODI (Multan, D/N).

April 19: Fifth ODI (Karachi, D/N).

April 20: Twenty International (Karachi).