Kiely not reading too much into Bangladesh fitness test setbacks

Kiely not reading too much into Bangladesh fitness test setbacks

Bangladesh's strength and conditioning coach Nathan Kiely is not concerned about several cricketers failing to meet standards in recent fitness testing. Kiely believes that the results do not tell the whole story, as some players have achieved personal bests in strength work.

"We've been focusing on the individual player and it's all about understanding where they're going well and where their work-ons are," Kiely said. "The players see their results. They know what they need to work on and their attitude and effort towards getting better in every area is fantastic."

Kiely expressed confidence that the team will be physically prepared for the UAE heat when Bangladesh competes in the Asia Cup T20 next September. "Absolutely, yeah (we will be ready) and our boys worked extremely hard," he said.

The BCB has moved away from using yo-yo and beep tests to assess player fitness, introducing the more traditional 1600m time trial following Kiely's appointment in April 2024. Kiely believes this method provides greater accuracy.

"The great thing about the time trial is that the clock doesn't lie. My experience is the players who win the yo-yo test and win the beep test and they also win the time trial and the guys who are poor in those tests are also poor in the time trial," he said.