Bangladesh cricket team had a full squad practice session in Dallas Tuesday but under different circumstances and facilities.
Whereas all the leading international cricket teams are habituated in drilling it out during practice sessions with mix of batting, bowling, fielding and a bit of work on the fitness, the Tigers were seen busy mostly with the bat at the Mustangs Cricket Academy based in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
There is simply not enough space in the facility for fielding drills and not enough benefit for the bowlers bowling on the artificial turf.
The facilities at the Mustangs boasts 12 nets on astroturf along with a few of the latest bowling machines.
The main venue in Dallas, the Grand Prairie Stadium, on the day was occupied hosting Group D fixture between the Netherlands and Nepal.
Thus, Bangladesh team opted to arrange a private training session on the artificial turf at the Mustangs Academy.
Many of the teams participating in USA at the ongoing Twenty20 World Cup has raised concerns with the facilities available for training.
But the Bangladesh cricket team seem to have accepted the fact that “whatever that is available is the best possible”, given cricket is yet to be widely accepted in this country.
The Mustangs Cricket Academy is a high-performance cricket school run by bunch of passionate cricket professionals with over 20 years of experience in fostering and promoting cricketing talent within the Dallas metroplex.
The main facility in the academy are the seven premium cricket lanes on artificial turf, each spanning 140 feet in length with a couple of bowling machines.
So far alongside Bangladesh – Pakistan, the Dutch and Canada have had their practice sessions at the Mustangs free of cost.
Syed Shahnawaz, member of USA Cricket Committee and also the Mustangs, admitted the facilities are not top notch to accommodate international teams but it is workable given the scenario of cricket in the United States.
“We started this academy three years ago and with the response growing we shifted to this place [in Lewisville] six months ago. We have about 200 students here at the moment involved in different age level programs. Our success story has been three of our players are now currently playing for the USA team and there are many others in the pipeline,” said Shahnawaz to Dhaka Tribune.
“We are actually hosting [free of cost] the teams’ practice sessions here. It is a big moment for us for the international teams to come to our facilities. It inspires our students as well that the nets are now being shared by internationally famed cricketers,” he added.
The journey of cricket in the US had a major boost very recently with the introduction of Major League Cricket.
The T20 league, involving mostly the Indian Premier League franchises, started last year with the ambition to culminate in the 2028 Los Angeles Games where cricket will be reintroduced to the Olympic program for the first time since 1900.
Mustangs Cricket is part of the setup participating in the Minor League.
There has been wide discussion regarding Bangladesh not being regular with their practice sessions in USA.
Bangladesh spearhead and vice-captain Taskin Ahmed explained the reasons behind the lack of or optional training sessions.
He said it was down to rain and the practice facilities, which are not upto the standard required.
“We have not been able to train enough because of the weather. The outfield has been wet due to the rain and the practice facilities are not top notch which is understandable as cricket in USA is still very new. It is true that we have been morally down [due to defeats against USA and in warm-up game against India] but we have been working hard and hopeful that wins can make us bounce back,” said Taskin to the media Tuesday in Dallas.
Bangladesh are scheduled to train Wednesday between 4pm-7pm local time at Grand Prairie Stadium but only if the weather stays clear.
Otherwise, they will move to the Mustangs Academy again.