Bangladesh face race for fitness (3 May 1999)
Hunt was discussing his Bangladesh charges during Saturday's warm-up game in the sunshine at Finchampstead, a lovely ground in Berkshire flanked on one side by a nine-foot high beech hedge stretching for about a quarter of a mile - and all
03-May-1999
3 May 1999
Bangladesh face race for fitness
Charles Randall
Rob Hunt, the Australian fitness advisor and physiotherapist
Bangladesh have brought in for the World Cup, eased himself more
comfortably in his pavilion chair and said: "The hardest thing to
teach these fellows is the difference between pain and real pain."
Hunt was discussing his Bangladesh charges during Saturday's warm-up
game in the sunshine at Finchampstead, a lovely ground in Berkshire
flanked on one side by a nine-foot high beech hedge stretching for
about a quarter of a mile - and all hand-trimmed.
Hunt, by taking on the Bangladesh job, had entered a different
culture - a culture which, in his view, would have to change as
preparations staggered into a third week after the initial shock
chill. The Australian was determined that acclimatisation would mean
more than simply turning up the radiators in their hotel rooms on the
Watford bypass.
He surprised his gentle-mannered players by demanding more pride and
passion, with no "easy options" and no short cuts in training.
"They've responded generally quite well," he said with a sigh before
turning to the subject of pain. "They just couldn't grasp the concept
that muscle soreness is part and parcel of fitness as opposed to
injury pain."
Bangladesh travel to Chelmsford today for the final run-up to the
tournament. In the field against the club players of Finchampstead
they looked enthusiastic enough under the captaincy of Aminul Islam,
but not a group of Muslim fitness machines, with Akram Khan, 32,
impressing as a rollicking batsman in the Falstaff mode. Others, in
physio jargon, looked a little "lardy".
Whatever Hunt's exhortations, Akram Khan remained quite simply the
best batsman, as Finchampstead discovered when he struck 65 off 56
balls. Bangladesh's thin credibility as competitors in the World Cup
could depend on this distinctive figure, who achieved hero status
among his country's 120 million population as captain in the ICC
Trophy triumph two years ago.
Even in England the players, all full-timers or students, found that
they had an exalted status among a significant group -
Bangladeshi-run High Street Indian restaurants.
Hunt, faithful to his own mantra of togetherness, has had to
accompany them for a nightly spice overdose. When he returns to
Melbourne, he will probably never eat another curry.
Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)