Bangladesh fielding coach Ryan Cook has insisted that the Tigers will have to work more on their catching and ground fielding ahead of the home series against the West Indies starting from January 20.

The Tigers have already started gearing up for their first international series after the Covid-19 interruption.

They played their last international game back in March 2020 against Zimbabwe at home. After that, most of the players were out of cricket until July.

At the end of the year, all the national players including the top cricketers played two domestic events – BCB President’s Cup and Bangabandhu T20 Cup.

Now, the Tigers are all set to get back to the bigger stage of the game.

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“The players are full of energy and are working very hard on their fielding. Some of the guys are keen to make extra work so that they can achieve a satisfactory standard of fielding. I love this philosophy of working hard,” Ryan told the media on Monday.

“However, I think they need to work more on the technical aspects of fielding. Especially, they need to improve their catching skills and ground fielding. But they are very good at throwing which will eventually help them become a better team in the next two years.”

Ryan was in Bangladesh when the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) hosted the first cricketing event – BCB President’s Cup – after a Covid-19 break.

The fielding coach thinks that the players were very good at fielding during that event.

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“Fielding is considered more important in limited-overs cricket. But it does not mean that fielding is less important in Tests. Fielding is crucial to becoming successful in this format of the game. A good display of fielding can change the game at any time,” Ryan said.

He also said since the players had a long break after the last tournament, “we want to go forward step by step. We want to make sure that none gets injured during practice.”

Bangladesh’s series against the West Indies will begin with the ODI on January 20 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.

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The second ODI will also take place at the same venue on January 22 while the third ODI and the first Test of the series will be played in Chattogram on January 25 and February 3.

To play the final match of the series, both teams will come back to Dhaka where the second Test will begin on February 11.