Streak shaping Bangla pace

The cricketing world may be surprised to see a steady stream of quality fast bowlers in Bangladesh side but not Heath Streak. The former Zimbabwean captain and coach is the man who has tirelessly worked behind the scenes to bring about the transformation from their over-reliance on a clutch of left-arm spinners to producing fire-spitting fast bowlers.

 As Bangladesh made it to the final of the Asia Cup, the confidence of the young fast bowlers in raging down sides like Pakistan and Sri Lanka was there for all to see. And no one is happier than Streak, who was among the best fast bowlers in the 90s, and roped in by Bangladesh in June 2014.

Pakistan, India and South returned with defeats in 50-over matches from Bangladesh last year and it were the pacers who made the difference.

“I realized the players here had a natural ability and skill. It was more about assisting them tactically and helping them develop in understanding of the game and conditions. Like how to bowl in certain conditions, how to exploit the weakness of opposition batsmen, how to target a batsman,” Streak told Deccan Herald.

“We also worked on training. Like they used to train for long hours but it was of low intensity. We reduced the time but made it high intensity. We trained in match like situations, all this is now showing results”.

Streak on his arrival found that while the country had no dearth of talent, the fast bowlers were not getting the opportunities they needed. “The domestic structure and condition were in favour of spin. It was difficult for the talented bowlers to come up. The first thing we did was to identify the players with the ability and desire to improve,” he said.

 “Our first tour was to West Indies, we did miserably but we identified the areas to work on. It was only during the World Cup that some of our hard work started showing. The belief came in, and once that confidence came, they began to enjoy bowling.”

One of the finds of Bangladesh has been young left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman and Streak is excited about him. “When we found him, no one looked at him as a potential international player. We called him to bowl in the nets to international players. Seeing the senior bowlers bowl, he began to develop his potential,” he said.

“He is a very gifted individual. It is difficult for the batsmen to read him. His stock delivery and cutters cannot be made out by the batsmen. It was a blow for us to lose him for the Asia Cup but we will try that he is with us for the T20 World Cup.”

With World Cup T20 knocking at the doors, Streak is confident of his pace attack. “There is variation in our bowling attack. It makes it easier for me to have a captain like Mashrafe Mortaza who is also a bowler.

“He can read a game very well, he has a lot of variety in his bowling. Then we have Taskin Ahmed who is a genuine quick and can extract bounce and Al Amin Hossain who has this nice top action. Then we have spinners in Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmuddullah, Nasir Hossain, so all in all it is very balanced. Asia Cup has been a good preparation,” he said.

Test cricket is one area Bangladesh still need to prove themselves and Streak believes that would only come by playing more matches. “What is happening now is that we play in one series and for the next 3-4 months we are waiting,” he said.