Bangladesh are stagnating says assistant coach

Bangladesh's innings defeat against Sri Lanka in the first Test at Colombo prompted the side's assistant coach, Sarwar Imran, to admit that Bangladesh were still quite far from being competitive at the Test level.

"Nothing has changed in our approach to Test cricket because we are making the same old mistakes," Imran told AFP. "We have a bunch of talented cricketers but I think we are not mentally tough to sustain at this level."

Bangladesh have lost all but one of their last 11 Tests - the exception being a rained-off game against India at Chittagong earlier this year. Since their debut in November 2000, Bangladesh have won only a single match - against Zimbabwe at home in January 2005 - losing 41 and drawing five out of a total of 47. Doubts over Bangladesh's worthiness to play Test cricket resurfaced after their worst-ever defeat - by an innings and 234 runs against Sri Lanka - last month.

But Habibul Bashar, the former Bangladesh captain, did not agree with claims that the team has made no improvement in Test cricket. "I am not frustrated with what happened at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground," Bashar said. "We have two more Tests to go and this is a chance for us to show that we are not as bad as people are making us out to be," he added.

"There is no shame in losing to such a strong team like Sri Lanka, but we have to learn from the mistakes and try and bat longer," he said. The second Test starts on July 3 in Colombo while the third Test from July 11 to 15 is at Kandy. The Tests are followed by three one-day matches in Colombo.