Hosts haunted by Cup memories - Siddons

Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons has said that Bangladesh's timid attempt to chase Australia's 270 in the first limited-overs match in Mirpur, could possibly have been due to the batsmen being haunted by memories of being shot out for 58 and 78 during the World Cup.

Tamim Iqbal (62 off 89 balls), one of Wisden's cricketers of the year, and the captain Shakib Al Hasan (51 off 90 balls), batted with a great deal of circumspection as they attempted to set a platform for the chase, but once when they were dismissed, the innings faded away to 210 for 5.

"Shakib didn't really have a lot of answers for me when he came off as to why they went so slow, other than the wicket was very difficult. I didn't like the running between wickets, didn't like them walking between wickets," Siddons said of the innings. "I was disappointed we didn't go a bit harder after we got to about 160, I thought we took the Powerplay probably six or eight overs too late; I wanted it taken while Tamim and Shakib were in and Tamim got out.

"It's difficult; 58 and 78 [against West Indies and South Africa in the World Cup] were really playing on the batsmen's minds, particularly once we lost No. 2, 3 and 4; the memory banks kick in pretty quickly for our guys.

"They're young, inexperienced as far as age goes - they're 23-year-olds. We don't have [Michael] Clarke, [Ricky] Ponting, [Kumar] Sangakkara or any of them there, and we need to develop two or three of them."

Siddons, whose contract ends at the end of the ongoing series, could be informed of his future with Bangladesh as early as Monday following a board meeting. He said he had tried on Saturday to do as he had done throughout his tenure - advise his players but also allow them room to learn for themselves.

"My plan in the brief before we went out was to be 200 at the 40-over mark and see if we can get the last 70 [in 10 overs]. We lost three wickets really quickly so 200 was way out of our reach, and then I pretty much left it up to the captain and vice-captain.

"I tend to try to let them grow and learn as captain and vice-captain, and didn't want to send messages out there; as soon as I sent a message out, Shakib got caught at long on the next ball. So that's my fear: as soon as I say hit the odd boundary, get the ones but hit the odd boundary, that [a dismissal] happens, so I tend to stay away from it."