The Sixties won't win you the Tests: Russel Domingo

Bangladesh head coach Russell Domingo has hit back at the soft dismissals of his batters after the Asian side succumbed to a seven-wicket defeat to the West Indies in Antigua on Sunday.

This is Bangladesh's 7th defeat in their last 10 Tests, and once again, it was the listless performance of their top-order led by Najmul Hossain Shanto and former skipper Mominul Haque, which proved to be their undoing.

The visitors lost their first six wickets inside the first session of play and were eventually dismissed for 103 in 32.5 overs.

Since their historic win in New Zealand earlier this year, the Bangladeshi top-order has consistently collapsed against pace and spin.

Speaking to the reporters after the Test match, coach Domingo attributed his batsmen's "poor decisions" to the loss of confidence following a series of repeated failures.

"[Our] batting wasn't good; there were too many soft dismissals. Too many poor decisions with the batting. We've got to get more than 103 and 245 in the first and second innings. The bottom line is too many soft dismissals. Batters are low on confidence. Some of our big players - Mominul and Shanto - are low on confidence. Confidence is a big thing in the game, and at the moment, they just don't have the confidence in their game," said Russell Domingo, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

With a short turnaround between the first and second Test, there isn't enough time for batters to make any technical changes. 

In such a scenario, Domingo believes that the batters will have to be mentally tough if they want to successfully gauge through this period.

"It is tough, but batters have to get through these slumps in form. There's not much technical changes to make between now and the next Test. You have to be mentally tough by putting all the noise, and criticism outside their head and focus on the cricket ball. The best players can do that. We know they are good players. They have made runs before. But they have to get that confidence back,"

Skipper Shakib scored a couple of half-centuries, and it was his 123-run stand with keeper Nurul Hasan helped Bangladesh avoid an innings defeat.

However, Dominga isn't convinced with their performances either, as he stressed that he needs daddy hundreds from his batters and not 60s or 70s.

"They just needed to get a partnership going," Domingo said. "They batted really well. They played low-risk cricket. They showed some of the top-order guys what they needed to do. They put together a really good partnership. Pity that the second new ball got both of them out. The sixties are not going to win us Tests. The bottom line is that we need hundreds." he added.

The second and final Test will take place at Gros Islet in St Lucia from June 24.