Siddons keen to resolve Tigers' power-hitting puzzle

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) moved away from their decision to appoint a power-hitting coach for T20 format permanently due to the interest of batting coach Jamie Siddons, who showed his eagerness to solve the side's power-hitting conundrum.

"Jamie (Jamie Siddons) came to my house a few days ago. We were discussing some things. We were discussing about a power hitting coach. Then Jamie said, he has a specialty in it. So he wants to work with the boys. We asked him to continue working," BCB president Nazmul Hassan Papon informed here today.

BCB was looking for a power hitting coach thinking about not only the Asia Cup but also the T20 World Cup.

"Not this Asia Cup, our target is the next World Cup. Because that is more challenging. Because it will be held in Australia.

 We already struggle in those sectors. We are working with that in mind. In this Asia Cup we want to change some things to see if everything is right. There is not much time for that. It is not right to think that I will suddenly bring a coach and improve everything," he added, explaining as to why they gave Siddons the charge.

Siddons has been working with Bangladesh players for the past four days, trying to hone their power-hitting skill, a necessary part of the modern T20 cricket.
 
 He is regularly training the players by throwing balls from the bowling machine. In cases of power hitting--ball reflexes, footwork are anatomically linked with body strength. But the ball crosses the boundary even if the timing is correct. Siddons is working on those skills.

One of the reasons behind batsmen not getting big runs is their mindset.

 Ppaon believes that success can be found only if the batsmen are aggressive rather than playing in a defensive attitude.

"If we want to win or do well, we have to change the mindset. There is no alternative. 130 cannot win a match. It can't be. We have to do 180-200. This should be kept in mind."