We give up our wickets easily - Law
Stuart Law, the Bangladesh coach, has said it was disappointing that his batsmen were getting themselves out, instead of making Pakistan toil for wickets
ESPNcricinfo staff
09-Dec-2011
Nasir Hossain played his shots during his 41 • AFP
Stuart Law, the Bangladesh coach, has said it was disappointing that his batsmen were getting themselves out, instead of making Pakistan toil for wickets, and that it was a frequently recurring problem. Bangladesh were dismissed for 135 on the first day of the Chittagong Test because several of their batsmen played rash shots.
"We are not making Pakistan get us out, we are just giving up our wickets easily. It's happening over and over again, that is disappointing for anybody," Law said. "It's not through lack of talk, not through lack of practice. I can't really explain it."
Bangladesh had good batting conditions as well, after Misbah-ul-Haq made the surprising decision to bowl after winning the toss. They were all out inside two sessions, though. Of the top six batsmen only the debutant opener, Nazimuddin, went past 10. He was involved in the highest partnership of the innings - 24 for the seventh wicket with Mahmudullah. Bangladesh got past 100 only because of Nasir Hossain's 41 at No. 8.
"The conditions were ideal for batting. The wicket may have been a little slow, but if you prepare for bat a long time, you got it easy and easier," Law said. "It looks like a pretty good batting wicket as well. It was probably a little bit of a gamble by Misbah, very well calculated and credit to Pakistan, they picked up the wickets they needed at a regular intervals.
"Two bright points, Nazimuddin, on debut, I think he looked very good. He looked very comfortable. And once again Nasir Hossain continued to score runs. He has put his hand up to probably go up the order at some stage."
Law said the key was to bat carefully at the start because the pitch eased out after the tea break. The Pakistan openers virtually wiped out Bangladesh's total during their partnership. Mohammad Hafeez and Taufeeq Umar added 132.
"We have very talented cricketers, we just have got a mental block somewhere," Law said. "We tried to talk about the longer we bat, the easier it gets. After tea today it was one of the nicest batting wickets."