,[Our] The batting wasn’t good, there were a lot of soft outs,” Domingo said of his performance in Antigua. “A lot of bad decisions with the batting. We have to score more than 103 and 245 in the first and second innings. The bottom line is, too many soft dismissals. The confidence of the batsmen is low. Some of our big players – Mominul and Shanto – are short of confidence. Confidence is a big thing in the game and at the moment he is not confident in his game.”
With the second Test of the tour starting in just five days, Domingo said his team had no choice but to remove themselves from the mat and find a way to go again.
“It’s tough but batsmen have to go through these slumps in form. There’s not a lot of technical change between now and the next Test. You have to be mentally tough, keeping all the noise, criticism out of their heads, and focus. The cricket ball has to be focused. The best players can do that. We know they are good players. They have scored runs before. But they have to bring that confidence back.”
“They just needed to partner,” Domingo said. “He batted really well. He played low-risk cricket. He showed some of the top-order what he had to do. They put on a really good partnership. Sadly, the second new ball got them both out. Diya. It’s sixties. We won’t win Tests. The basic thing is we need hundreds.”
He has bowled brilliantly in both the innings. Keeping him at 265 in the first innings, I am very proud of the bowlers in these last few days. [Khaled] There’s still a lot to improve despite getting three [early] wicket [in the second innings], He has to improve his consistency. Sometimes he will bowl well and not take wickets. That is the nature of the game. He has bowled well, taken some good wickets.”
While Khalid had that strong spell on the third evening, Mustafizur was steady, at best and accurate without threatening to take wickets. He is playing his first Test in 16 months, after which media outrage forced the BCB to bring him back into the red-ball fold.
Domingo said he should ensure Mustafizur’s workload is managed in the white-ball format. “He has bowled well but you want a little more. His pace can increase, but he has good control. He needs to be managed carefully. He has played a lot of cricket and he still has a lot to play,” he said. We can’t throw him in the field. He is an important white-ball bowler for us.”
