Women’s team continue WC prep against age-level boys

Bangladesh women's team players are set to compete in a tri-series – a preparatory tournament ahead of the ICC Women's World Cup –starting today at the BKSP, which will feature two women's teams, named the red and green team, and the Under-15 men's team.

Each team will face each other twice in the 50-over tournament, which will be held in its entirety at the BKSP. The tournament will end on August 28, afterwards the team will return to Dhaka for another camp before leaving for India for the World Cup, set to begin on September 30.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) tried and failed to arrange international assignments for the national team following their World Cup qualification in April this year. The BCB held talks with Pakistan and Sri Lanka but those boards already had a schedule in place for the lead up to the World Cup while other top sides had prior plans to play among themselves.

As a result, an Emerging Teams series against South Africa at home in May is the only taste of international cricket the women's players have had this year since the qualifiers in Pakistan.

To make up for this gap in preparation, the board had arranged a few practice games for the women's team against the men's U-17 team during the Sylhet camp in July and have opted for the same option once again, this time roping in the U-15 boys for a tournament.

However, Nasiruddin Faruque Shajib, the batting coach of the women's team, argued that playing against age-level men's sides is actually good preparation for the Tigresses ahead of the World Cup.

"The [U-17 men's team's] bowling unit that we faced in Sylhet was quite quick. It reflected the standards of big international sides such as Australia and England. The conditions were good, the wickets had variety where we got batting friendly surfaces, wickets with grass and seaming conditions too along with spinning tracks," Nasiruddin, who has been with the side in an on and off basis since 2021, told The Daily Star.

"In difficult times, your mindset comes out. I feel it's very stable and strong right now… I feel because of our improved mindset, we scored 230-240 regularly against that bowling attack in Sylhet. We scored 245 twice and also twice we reached 250. Since we averaged 240 against unknown quality opponents, I am hopeful," he added.

Nasiruddin felt that the overall preparation for the World Cup has been good and is expecting a better performance than the Tigresses maiden World Cup campaign in 2022 in New Zealand, when the side won only one out of their seven games.

"We have seen players come up through the qualifiers. After that we also observed new players in the Emerging programme, where the girls played against a quality South Africa side. There was a conditioning camp in Dhaka, another conditioning camp in Cox's Bazar and we also played matches in Sylhet. So, in general the preparations have been fruitful."

"We obviously expect better results and I believe execution would make the difference. I feel they are in a good flow at the moment."