CHATTOGRAM, Jan 17, 2025 (BSS)—Mickey Aurther, one of the high profile International cricket coaches around the world, insisted that it is high time for Bangladesh to validate their giant status in the ODI cricket, a format which is always considered as the side’s strongest zone.

According to the veteran coach who coached three International teams so far, the team eventually are judged on how many trophies they have won.

“They (Bangladesh) have played some good ODI cricket. But you are ultimately judged on trophy,” Aurther told the BSS today.

 “I do believe they should win like other team does. You need the trophy to validate all the hard work that you put in and to validate the selection, the brand of the cricket is whatever you need a trophy in your showcase. So Bangladesh does need a trophy.”

Aurther who started his coaching career with his country South Africa before being first non Australian coach to supervise the Aussie team drew the example of South Africa, saying that despite being the top team in the world, they are not remembered by the people.

“I will say that South Africa is always ranked 1 team, they are ranked 1 in ODI, T20 and Test but we have never won an ICC event,” he said.

“The people don’t remember a team who doesn’t win an ICC event. Bangladesh is playing good cricket, they are very good ODI side but they need to win something to validate it.”

Bangladesh’s juggernaut in ODI cricket started after 2015 World Cup and till the first part of 2023, they only lost two series at home—both against England. After that their performance in this format hit a lowest ebb as they experienced defeats to Afghanistan and New Zealand at home, that saw them plunged to 9th in ICC ODI rankings.

With Champions Trophy knocking at the door, Aurther who won the last edition of the event as the coach of Pakistan in 2017, believes Bangladesh have the same chance like other teams to win it.

“Champions trophy is very good competition, its very short. you need to play your best cricket. There are eight very good teams, and absolutely there is no margin of error at all,” he said.

“Pakistan were ranked 8th when we won the Champions Trophy, we lost the first match and so every game after that became a must win game. We won all of them because we started playing our best cricket. We settled on a formula where a player knew their role and they executed their roles very well and we got momentum, and once you got momentum in cricket that is very powerful. Because with momentum, comes a lot of confidence.

“I think any team, I honestly believe that any team can go into the competition and win it. It’s a fantastic tournament for the simple reason that every game is a must win game, so yeah Bangladesh got same chance that every other team have in the competition.”

Aurther who is in Bangladesh now to coach the Rangpur Riders in Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) believes the country’s players made significant progress in terms of skill as evidenced in their performance in the BPL.

“The Bangladesh players have been outstanding and I am not going to say that I am really surprised. Because they have got the talent pool  and bigger  pool of player, which was not the case when I was here to coach Dhaka Dynamites. The talent pool was little bit smaller but now I saw lot more player coming up,” he remarked.

He was particularly impressed with Nahid Rana, a fast bowler with raw pace who had recently made a buzz for his outstanding performance. Aurther however saw him very close because he is playing for Rangpur Riders in this BPL

“I think Nahid Rana will be a very good bowler. First of all he is quick, he got pace and the skill. He got the all attributes to be a quality International fast bowler. He understands when to use the skill. I don’t see any reason as to why he won’t go strength from strength and will be exceptional bowler in years to come,” he said.

At the same time, Aurther laid emphasize on ‘fun balance’ to manage Nahid’s workload.

“Fun Balance is the term which means the amount he bowls and the amount he rests,” he explained, adding that the pacer needs to bowl to get his skill better and at the same time take proper rest by managing his workload.

“In BPL he bowls just 24 balls, that’s only that. He is not given the burden, what he needs to do is to get his skill better and have fun sometimes. He needs to understand his game, he needs to learn and have to perform under pressure. He needs to develop his skill and the skill will develop when he will play.’

“Obviously that sometimes makes him tired and when he feels then you give him a break. You can see when he is tried, his action is deteriorating I think.. It’s going to be ‘fun balance’ but the fun balance needs to be balanced in the fact that he is going to bowl a lot more ball because he needs to bowl to get his skill better.”