Bangladesh head coach Phil Simmons has warned his team to prepare for a fierce fightback from Australia in the second Test and urged his players to raise their game even higher, after securing a historic nine-wicket victory in the series opener in Darwin. Simmons made it clear that while the win in Darwin was monumental, the job is far from complete as they prepare for the second Test to be played at the Great Barrier Reef Arena. “The only thing I had to say to them – and I will repeat it anyway – is that Australia is going to come harder.
Bangladesh head coach Phil Simmons has warned his team to prepare for a fierce fightback from Australia in the second Test and urged his players to raise their game even higher, after securing a historic nine-wicket victory in the series opener in Darwin.
Bangladesh’s success in Darwin was built on a monumental first-innings effort, where they batted for 138 overs to score 426 runs, a blueprint Simmons wants his side to replicate in Mackay. “Test cricket is five days; if my team can bat for 11 hours out of those five days, then the other team must be under pressure. “For me, that’s how I learned in Test cricket. You bat, you get a score. A big first-innings score is always good. Then you put the other team under pressure. That’s what we’re trying to do. Bat and get big scores in the first innings and make sure that the other team has to do a lot of work to get those scores.”
