'Let ourselves down': Simmons on Bangladesh's misery against CA XI
What's the story
Phil Simmons, the head coach of the Bangladesh cricket team, has expressed his disappointment over his side's poor performance in a practice match against Cricket Australia XI. The match was played in Darwin and saw Bangladesh bowled out for a mere 54 runs in their second innings. Left-arm seamer Campbell Thompson's exceptional bowling performance (8/25) led to Bangladesh losing the three-day game by an innings and 38 runs.
Coach's statement
Simmons calls out players
Simmons didn't mince his words when he addressed the batting collapse.
"I think we let ourselves down with the bat in this practice match, and you look at how we got out and it wasn't nice," he said after the game, as per Cricbuzz.
Despite the disappointing result, he stressed that there is still time to fix these issues before their first Test against Australia on August 13.
"we have three [four] days to work on what we have to do properly in the Test match," Simmons added.
Match details
How did the game pan out?
Bangladesh managed to score 263 runs in their first innings, thanks to a century from Mehidy Hasan Miraz at No. 7. Cricket
Australia XI posted 355/10 in response and later recorded an innings win.
In the third innings, Tanzid Hasan was the only player to score in double digits with a mere 22 runs.
As a result, the Tigers were folded for 54 as Thompson took an eight-fer.
Player's insight
Thompson reflects on his performance
Thompson, who had only played one first-class match before this practice game, said, "Sometimes you get lucky. It fell my way today, which was nice."
He added that playing against a Test side just days before a series is always a good experience and opportunity.
Despite the heavy defeat, Simmons urged his players to quickly put the result behind them and focus on the Test series.
Upcoming challenge
Bangladesh's 1st Test visit to Australia in 23 years
Bangladesh will have little time to regroup before the first Test, starting August 13 in Darwin.
This series marks their first Test visit to Australia in 23 years.
The team is hoping for a better performance than what they showed in the practice match against Cricket Australia XI.
"Disappointing match, but we move on and we look forward to the Test match," Simmons asserted.