National cricket team head coach Russell Domingo is concerned at Bangladesh being unable to develop longer-version cricket culture.
Domingo expressed his worry with Bangladesh facing a whitewash in the two-match Test series against hosts West Indies.
Speaking to online sports news portal Allrounder in Saint Lucia, Domingo pressed on the need for Bangladesh to have iconic players in the format and winning series worth remembering to change the culture.
Bangladesh have been playing Test cricket for almost 22 years now but concerns are aplenty regarding its development in the format and also the culture, which starts with domestic circuit.
The country has two first-class cricket tournaments, the National Cricket League involving eight divisional teams and a four-team franchise-based tournament.
There is however, a big question mark on the quality of the tournaments and also the fact that most national team cricketers do not get to play these competitions, and even if there is the opportunity they opt not to play.
“The West Indies has got a long history and culture of Test match cricket; they were the best Test side in the world during the 1980s and the 90s. They know how to play this format of the game and has iconic players. Until we have players of that level and win series worth remembering, we have no option to accept that our Test culture is not to the level where it should be. Basic things, about the desire to play Test match cricket is such an important element, we are long way behind the other teams when it comes to Test cricket,” said Domingo.
Following the Test series against the West Indies which is likely to end yesterday, Bangladesh play their next Test most likely in November against India at home.
Till then Bangladesh will largely be playing white-ball cricket involving mostly T20 internationals with the two upcoming major events – Asia Cup T20 and T20 World Cup.
Domingo raised the crucial question of what the cricketers who play only Tests will do in between these four to five months.
Left-handed batter Mominul Haque will be one of the cricketers to sit idle whereas he is in great need of a platform to recover from his long below-par form.
Mominul was the Test captain before the ongoing series against hosts West Indies.
But troubled with the form, the cricketer missed out from the playing XI in the second Test against the West Indies in Saint Lucia.
The time ahead is uncertain for the diminutive batsman who must be eager to make a comeback.
“Monitoring the Test cricketers in important. Mominul is likely to be out of the game for next four-five months. Our next Test series is most likely against India. We will play a lot of white ball cricket in between this time. What will players like Khaled [Ahmed], Taijul [Islam] and Ebadat [Hossain] do in these next four-five months? Playing India in Test will not be easy. Do they go play domestic cricket? We need to look at what we can do better for those players in the system,” said Domingo.
