170-180 are good scores here, says Siddons

Jamie Siddons, the Bangladesh batting coach, opined that scores of 200 will be rare and he hoped that Bangladesh bowling attack would be good enough to restrict opponents to 170-odd scores. The team management, however, remained hopeful someone would score big with two warm-up matches providing the launch pad to find the required groove, and Siddons maintained they are close to finding the final batting order.

Bangladesh's highest score of 173 for six in the recently concluded tri-nation series in New Zealand was usurped by Pakistan, with seven wickets and one delivery to spare. Thus, whether the Tigers are just below-par with the ball or with the bat, is highly debatable.

The Tigers moved to Brisbane on Saturday and had their first practice session in Australia the day after, hoping everything falls into place as they prepare for today's World Cup warm-up fixture against Afghanistan. While the bowlers had their separate net session on death-bowling skills, they also batted a bit.

"They had a long flight yesterday, so didn't want to work them too hard," Siddons said regarding the net sessions yesterday while talking to the media.

"Well, they had a good bat. Lately they haven't had to bat with the top-order doing well up till the 10th over. We gotta keep working on them cause, at some point, we are gonna need them," he said about the tail-enders getting some sessions in with the bat.

Bangladesh top-order is, however, the likeliest position to make or break the Tigers in this World Cup. While skipper Shakib Al Hasan and batter Liton Das have carried form to the warm-up matches, much is expected of the likes of Soumya Sarkar, Yasir Ali, Mosaddek Hossain, and Nurul Hasan. Soumya returned to the national setup after a long time while Yasir and Nurul, returning from injuries, have yet to establish consistency.

The team had experimented with the batting order recently but Siddons said they are close to finding the right setup.

"We will see next two games and we will get a lot closer to the final batting order. Having a team which haven't won a lot of T20s, we're still looking for the best mix and the best batting spots. We're getting very close."

Soumya was going through the gears with coach Sridharan Sriram yesterday. The left-hander had impactful starts at the 2019 World Cup in England and the management is now looking for big scores from the top-order.

"Soumya hasn't made fifties or sixties but so didn't Sabbir [Rahman], so we're hoping that once these next two practice matches and the World Cup comes along, everyone is in good form," Siddons remarked.

"I think they [players returning after a gap or injuries] are going well. We've brought in some new players that haven't been in the team for a while, as you probably know. So, they are finding that it will take a little bit of time to get up to speed with international cricket again, but today is an example of how they are going and they are going really well," the Australian said.

The average first score at grounds like Brisbane was just above 162 in the Big Bash League (BBL) while at Sydney it was 182.

"I don't think we're going to need 200 here. You won't need 200 tomorrow or at the World Cup very often. 180 or 170 are good scores. If we make 170, we are very happy. Our bowling attack will keep them to 170. Have a look at Big Bash, average scores, not 200. Very, very, very rare," he said but for that, Tigers' bowling unit will have to turn up much better performances than they have done recently.