Adaptation key for Bangladesh coach Domingo

Domingo stressed he's looking to build a strong relationship with the players and hoping to improve the pathway for upcoming cricketers. © BCB

Russell Domingo, the newly appointed Bangladesh head coach, said on Wednesday (August 21) that he is ready to adapt with the cultural change as he takes the reign of a sub-continental set-up for the first time in his career. The former South African coach was handed a two-year contract by Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) after they parted ways with Steve Rhodes post the World Cup.

"We can't expect Bangladesh cricket to adapt to us, we've got to adapt to Bangladesh cricket. And we've got to find a way to make our processes and our systems work with the cricket organisation and with the players. So we might need to alter the way we go about things to fit in with the culture," Domingo said.

The 44-year-old arrived a day before to join the conditioning camp of Bangladesh ahead of their upcoming series against Afghanistan followed by a tri-series involving Zimbabwe. He had a brief interaction with the players and stressed that gaining trust is of utmost importance. "My immediate goal is to make some sort of connection with the players, to understand the players, build some relationships over the next week or two - I think that's massively important. Try and gain the players' trust, see how the players go about their work. It's very much an observatory role the next couple of days, to just see how they go about their business and take some learning from that," he pointed out.

The South African also pointed out that working at grass root levels is high on his agenda. "I think I am very aware of how important feeder systems are. That's where your next tier of players comes from. I want to place a lot of emphasis on monitoring the players just beneath the national side.

"After our series against Zimbabwe and Afghanistan, I'm hoping to go to Sri Lanka to watch the A side play - the A-side has a tour to Sri Lanka in the middle of September and I'm hoping to watch them in those games. It's impossible to watch all the cricket, there's no doubt about that. I've got to make sure I surround myself with the people I can trust, selectors who are going to give me good inputs, connect with the high-performance coaches, with the 'A' side coaches, and find out who they think the best players are that we can invite closer to the national side, but it's impossible to watch each and every game," he said.

Domingo is confident that Bangladesh can be a force to reckon with in the coming days despite the fact they were whitewashed by Sri Lanka in a three-match ODI series soon after their finishing eighth in the World Cup.

"I don't think they are a bad team because they lost to Sri Lanka. Touring straight after a World Cup is always going to be hard. Sri Lanka probably had a bit more to gain from it with a few players leaving, it was Lasith's last game, Kulasekara was given a farewell, they had a bit more to prove. While Bangladesh players - I was watching from the outside - had just come off a long World Cup and probably needed more of a break than they did, so I wouldn't read too much into the Sri Lankan series. The World Cup performances, I thought they played really well," he said.

"The log will say they ended seventh [eighth], I think they played better than that. And I've been in international cricket long enough to know that sometimes the results can hinge on a decision here and there, so it's not always a fair reflection of where you are as a team. There were a lot of positives to come out of the World Cup that they can build on going forward for sure. There are a lot of areas they can improve in, but there were a lot of positives in the World Cup."

Domingo believes Bangladesh lack in Test cricket due to the fact they don't play it regularly and that the Test Championship is a platform he would like to use to make a statement in the longer formats.

''It's hard to get any sort of rhythm in Test cricket if you're not playing that many matches. With the new Test Championship, it allows a team to focus a lot more on Test cricket. We know often Bangladesh play one or two-Test match series. Hopefully now there will be three-Test series, four-Test series, which gets them more into the format. Because so much focus there is on white-ball cricket, with the Test Championship, a lot of that focus now needs to move away from the World Cup and the 50-over format into Test cricket. So it will be a good start to put a lot more focus and emphasis on our red-ball skills in the next couple of months.

It's a massive opportunity for Bangladesh to compete regularly in Test match cricket. Their last match was maybe six months ago, we can hardly remember when it was. The more you play the better you're going to get in the format. That's probably where they have been lacking," he added.