Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott believes that the lack of preparation and exposure to Test cricket significantly contributed to his team’s defeat against Bangladesh.
In a one-off Test match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Afghanistan suffered a massive 546-run loss on the fourth morning, primarily due to their feeble batting performance.
Expressing his disappointment, Trott stated, “Obviously very disappointed. And didn’t play well from the word go.” He emphasized the team’s limited Test cricket experience, saying, “We haven’t played a Test match for 27 months. Players had only been in the country four days. So, obviously, there are things that need to be done better to prepare for a Test match and be expecting to compete. So, disappointing all around, but you know, the players, there were some slight moments of good cricket from us, but not enough and not consistent enough.”
Trott also highlighted the lack of warm-up matches as a hindrance, saying, “Ideally, I think it would’ve been nice if we could’ve played a warm-up match. We were in Sri Lanka playing ODIs and half the team were obviously back in Afghanistan prepping, but hadn’t played a first-class game for a long time.”
He further explained the disrupted schedule, mentioning the canceled series against India, which affected their preparation, stating, “So, it would’ve been nice to have been able to come to Bangladesh at the time to train and play a match. We were supposed to play a series against India that was supposed to be played, but that got cancelled, which meant that we sort of pushed this a little bit forward and we were supposed to go to India now and then come back for the ODIs and T20. So that then fell through and the schedule was set in stone as it is. So, unfortunately, that’s the case and hopefully, we’ll learn from it,” added Trott.
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