Aussie brainwave! One-pad preparation vs Bangladesh
MUMBAI: After coming quite close to beating the in-form team of Vi rat K oh li during their Test tour to India earlier this year, Steve Smith & Co have now set their goal to conquer Bangladesh in the two-Test series, starting August 27. Ahead of their first Test in Dhaka, the Australians unveiled a new training method to counter spin threat against Bangladesh.
Opener Matthew R en shaw and first Test hopeful Usman Khawaja batted in the nets without their front pads. The one-pad training method was first introduced to the Aussies by former batting coach Justin Langer five years ago, according to allrounder Glenn Maxwell.
“It’s probably something we did back in 2012 when ‘JL’ (Langer) was the batting coach,” Maxwell told reporters on Wednesday. “We did it a little in the nets when we were in Dubai (for Australia’s pre-India tour camp earlier this year). I think the main thing is to basically use your bat: if you don’t have the safety of your front pad there it makes you get your leg out of the way and actually use your bat.
“It’s more about refining your defence and making sure you’re trusting the fact you’ll hit the ball and not hoping that your pad’s there just to save you,” added Maxwell .“It’ s more for the( spinners) that are hitting the stumps repeatedly and Bangladesh do that really well. They bowl the ball-stump-to-stump-and-they-put pressure on your defence.”
Maxwell too has used training method in recent times and smashed a century in the Ran chi Test against India. “That’s one thing that we have worked on and will continue to work on. I’ve done a fair bit of it, I did a lot of it back home, a lot of my practice revolves around defence and expanding from there,” he said.
Maxwell said his team will be wary of the threat of Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman and left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan.