Streak: Bangladesh home away from home

Zimbabwe head coach Heath Streak said he treats Bangladesh as his second home as the former Tigers pace bowling coach expressed delight after returning at Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka Saturday.

Former Zimbabwe captain Streak joined the Bangladesh coaching staff in May, 2014. The former all-rounder left his role in 2016 after completing his two-year contract with the Tigers.

“It’s nice to be back in Bangladesh. It’s like home away from home for me. I have spent two years here and that is not so long ago, so it was like the other day that I was here. Me and my team are looking forward to play a good tri-series here with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka,” Streak told the media during their arrival press conference in Mirpur Saturday.

En route to 🇧🇩 with @PJMoor10 and @GraemeCremer
Hoping for an exciting series with @BCBtigers and @OfficialSLC pic.twitter.com/S0QyUO2YOd

— Sikandar Raza (@SRazaB24) January 11, 2018

“I have followed Bangladesh quite a bit. A lot of them are good friends of mine – Mashrafe [bin Mortaza], Mustafizur [Rahman] and Taskin [Ahmed]. I spent a lot of time coaching Rubel [Hossain]. I followed how they were performing in the time that I left,” he said.

A few Zimbabwean players took part in the recently concluded BPL 5.

When queried if Streak’s time with Bangladesh, coupled with the Zimbabweans’ experience in Bangladesh condition will work in favour of Zimbabwe, Streak answered humourously.

BON VOYAGE . . . @ZimCricketv players Kyle Jarvis, Tendai Chatara, Blessing Muzarabani, Hamilton Masakadza and Tendai Chisoro posed for a picture at the airport before leaving Harare for Dhaka via Dubai. Good luck in the tri-series against hosts @BCBtigers and @OfficialSLC pic.twitter.com/FQv0e9GVFJ

— Zimbabwe Cricket (@ZimCricketv) January 11, 2018

“I hope not. If I did my job well, it would be more difficult for our guys to perform (smiles). I think for me, knowing the wicket, conditions and some of the players; but like I said, I think most of us have played them enough to know what they would do,” he said.

“[Graeme] Cremer, [Sikandar] Raza, [Malcolm] Waller and [Solomon] Mire definitely will help us with a bit of information about some of the newer players as they have played in BPL 5. They would also know what the conditions are like, which would help them in the series,” he added.

However, Streak admitted that they are the underdog in the tri-nation ODI series and that Team Zimbabwe have to go a long way yet.

“I think we still have a long way to go. We are the underdog in this series. But I still feel that we have got the quality of players we need to take Zimbabwe cricket forward. We showed against Sri Lanka last year that we can compete against other countries outside our home territory. It was very pleasing but we have a long way to go as a team,” he concluded.