DHAKA, Bangladesh – Sheldon Cotterrell said he was proud of the way he toiled with the ball to help give the Sagicor High Performance Centre team the upper hand early against Bangladesh-A in their tour match on Saturday.
The left-arm fast bowler grabbed 4-15 from 9.1 overs, as the A-Team, choosing to bat, were dismissed for 199 in their first innings just before the close on the opening day of the four-day match at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium.
Openers Andre Fletcher, not out on 13, and Trevon Griffith, not out on zero, then negotiated two tricky overs to carry the Sagicor HPC to 14 without loss before stumps were drawn.
"It was a hard day for me, but I just kept my lengths and my lines right, and bowling aggressive as usual on a flat pitch and my hard work paid off," Cotterrell told WICB Media.
The 00-year-old Cotterrell said it was a combination of many things that he had learned over the years and his experience at the Sagicor HPC, which helped him to reap success in difficult conditions.
"I kept things simple," he said. "I bowled and put fear in the batsmen with my short balls and then the pitched-up delivery was right up there with control, very straight, and it worked."
Cotterrell and fellow opening bowler Carlos Brathwaite, the Sagicor HPC captain, reaped little reward with the new ball, but kept things extremely tight up front.
A soldier in the Jamaican army, Cotterrell returned to wipe destroy the Bangladesh-A tail away with a lethally accurate spell, armed with the second new ball.
"I love to bowl to the tail-enders because they tend to shy away from the pace and I try to soften them up from early with the short stuff and then try to get them out," he said.
Cotterrell is one of the players in the Sagicor HPC programme that have played in senior regional competitions.
He said he hopes the skills and the knowledge he picks up at the Sagicor HPC can serve him well to tie down a consistent place in the Jamaica national team.
"Being at the Sagicor HPC has taught me a lot about bowling and about my bowling," he said.
"Playing with these guys has also been a wonderful experience and I have learnt so much from being around them.
"I just want to take this knowledge that I have acquired and apply it for Jamaica to continue to reap success."
Cotterrell said one of the major lessons he has learnt from the brief stay at the Sagicor HPC so far has been the value of strong team relationships.
"Having the right ’chemistry’ in a team is very important," he said. "My teammates are full of energy, so each time that I bowl a bad ball, they are there supporting me and telling me to keep my head up.
"As a fast bowler in such challenging conditions, this goes a long way and helps to give you a bit more confidence and I think this helped me in a major way to get the success."