'Australia are going to come harder at us' - Phil Simmons


Bangladesh head coach Phil Simmons on Thursday cautioned his charges not to get too carried away with their historic Test win over Australia at Darwin. suggesting the host will come hard at them when the two sides meet at Mackay for the series-deciding game of the ongoing two-match series, scheduled atthe Great Barrier Reef Arena from August 22. Bangladesh stunned the world’s cricket community by earning a nine-wicket win over Australia inside four days and will be looking forward to clinching their maiden series win Down Under. “The only thing I had to say to them, and I will repeat it anywhere, is that Australia is going to come harder. So we have to either keep that level of performance or get a little bit better,” Simmons told reporters on Thursday. “Even if we get 1% better in some areas, then we will have to make sure that that's there. But we know that they are going to change their game, they're going to come harder at us,” he said. Simmons added that they are confident to take the challenge while adding that batters need to take responsibility in the first innings to help the side put the opponent under pressure. “There must be some sort of confidence after winning a Test match. We played well, we won a good Test match, so the confidence is high. “Test cricket is five days and if my team can bat for 11 hours out of that five days, then the other team must be under pressure. So for me, that's how I learned to play Test cricket, that you bat, you get a score, a big first innings score is always good, and then you put the other team under pressure. And that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to 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 to our score,” he said, adding that the famous win against Australia is the best so far in his coaching career. “Definitely the best Test win I've had in my coaching career. I've had other formats with big ones, but the Test (win over Australia in Darwin) was the best,” he said. Simmons said that his players were confident of putting up a good show despite being embarrassed in the lone practise game by Cricket Australia XI as they were beaten by an innings margin after being bundled out for 54 runs in the second innings. “I've seen the practices. I've seen how we practised before the three-day game and I've seen how we practised the three days before the Test match. The work didn't change,” said Simmons. “Even though we made 54 that day, when we came back, the work didn't change, the work rate didn't change. So it gave me that sort of confidence that guys want this and they want to do well. So it was always going to come at some point,” he said, adding that they are earning more respect abroad following their Test series win over Pakistan. “Again, we gain more respect. I don't think we don't have respect. I think we have respect. We gain a little more from our away playing now. You know, before we were a little bit suspect, but now I think we're gaining a lot of respect from playing away,” he said. “But that's not from now. That's from (the time) we beat Pakistan in Pakistan. So, we've been gaining more and more respect, so this just adds to it,” he said. Simmons added he is happy to see Mushfiqur Rahim enjoying the game as he is on the verge of becoming first batter from the country to score 7000 Test runs. “He (Mushfiqur) is loving it. You can see on the field, he's loving just playing and being part of the team. He's gone past a hundred Test matches, he has nothing to prove. He's just enjoying his Test cricket now, which I'm so happy to see,” said Simmons. Simmons added that he is well aware about expectations back home, but stated that the touring party members have gotten over their emotions following their massive Test win and now looks forward for the challenge lying ahead. “Bangladesh, you always, there's always expectation, especially when we win. We won the last couple Test matches, but we lost in Zimbabwe. But there's always that expectation from Bangladesh people for the cricket team. So nothing changes there. It's just maybe a little bit more now, but there's always expectation,” said Simmons. “Bangladeshi people are emotional. I am not the same, so it's easy for me to control that, but it's difficult for them. But I think looking at them today, guys are settled back down. We've had a couple days, three days actually now, so guys have settled back down a lot and we hope that tomorrow again is a little more settling so we start on the right footing on Saturday morning,” he concluded.