David Hemp has urged Bangladesh women to embrace a positive approach and play their natural brand of cricket during their first-ever bilateral ODI series in Australia. The three-match Women’s Championship series begins on October 9 at Allan Border Field, with matches scheduled for October 9, 11 and 14. Hemp, who took charge of the Bangladesh women’s team in early October, emphasised that the squad must avoid looking back with regret on how they approached the contest.
Hemp, 55, began his two-year tenure as head coach during the Australian tour after replacing Sarwar Imran, who had held the position since February 2025. He also worked with the men’s team during their 2023 tour of New Zealand before being appointed batting coach in 2024.
“We can’t hide away from the fact that we’re playing against the best women’s team in the world. They’re number one in ODIs and also in T20s. So the biggest challenge will be getting our heads around that. They’re a good team with really good individual players. But expectations from me around how we play is just more around being positive within the game,” Hemp said ahead of the series opener on Thursday,” said Hemp as quoted by Cricbuzz.
“And what we don’t want is to get back to Bangladesh in a week’s time and say, ‘Oh, I wish we’d played this way, I wish we’d played that way’. We need to be positive in how we go about everything that we do and how we not just play the game but also approach the game and how we think about the game. And as long as we’re doing that, then we’ll move forward in a positive way,” he added.
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Don’t dwell on missed opportunities: Hemp
Hemp has emphasised the importance of playing without regret and maintaining a positive mindset throughout the series. The coach’s philosophy centres on how the team approaches the game mentally and strategically, rather than dwelling on missed opportunities after the series concludes. This mindset will be crucial as Bangladesh faces the world’s top-ranked ODI and T20I team.
“Yeah, obviously just been with the side for just over a week now, but I’m lucky enough to have worked with the side before in the World Cup qualifier but also a year and a half ago. So I’m new to the setup, but I’ve also had experience with the team before,” said Hemp.
“It’s been great. I mean, I know the players, players are working really well, settled in really well and had some really good discussions on how we want to play the game. So that transition has been for me a bit easier because I’ve been here before with the group,” he added.
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Preparation and adaptation to Australian conditions
Hemp highlighted the team’s preparation and adaptation to Australian conditions as key factors heading into the series. Bangladesh have had access to quality practice facilities and a warm-up match to acclimatise to the pace and bounce of Australian pitches. The players have shown willingness to adjust their approach to suit the different playing conditions they will encounter.
“First time we played in Australia in a bilateral series, so preparation has been really good. We’ve been fortunate, we had a practice game, but also the wickets that we’ve been practicing on have been excellent,” said Hemp.
“So it’s been a bit of a challenge for the players from that point of view because the wickets have a little bit more pace and bounce than what they’re used to. But they’ve adjusted really well and really tried to adjust and adapt to those conditions. And that’s all you can ask because it is foreign and it is new, but as I say, it’s been a really good four, five days so far in terms of preparation,” he concluded.
