BANGLASDESH became the second team to enter the Caribbean for the World Cup when they arrived in Antigua this week. Bermuda were the first team to arrive for the tournament. After arriving coach Davenell Whatmore said he hopes reaching the Caribbean before most of the other teams in the March 13 to 28 April tournament will be an asset to his side, who will be involved in a tri-series warm-up tournament with Bermuda and Canada next week at the Antigua Recreation Grounds.“We are here to do as well as we can. We are here a little bit earlier than the other teams, which we think is a valuable asset to have,” Whatmore said. “We will be playing two (warm-up) games against other countries. We see this as a means of valuable preparations for the World Cup which gets on the way next month.”

Whatmore said Bangladesh will be doing their best during the World Cup tournament. Bangladesh are considered one of the minnows of the World Cup and are not favourites to advance beyond the preliminary group stage. Whatmore said the Bangladesh team spirits are high ahead of their World Cup battle in a preliminary group, which also includes Sri Lanka, India and fellow minnows Bermuda. “Team spirit is very good. The team has played some very good cricket over the past six to eight months, culminating in our first series victory abroad against a full-member ICC country just a week ago,” Whatmore said. “To go abroad and win is not so easy for us. We have done that so the team spirit is very high.”

Bangladesh, who recently beat Zimbabwe, will continue their preparations for the World Cup when they face Bermuda on Sunday in the opening match of the tri-series warm-up contest. The Bangladesh head coach said his team will be using their time in Antigua to fine-tune their World Cup preparations.

“We will be focusing on a little bit of fine-tuning. We have a couple of young guys come into the team. We would like them to use these games to settle in (the team) a little bit quicker than what may normally be the case,” he said. “We will also be fine-tuning the combinations that we may need to have in certain games. Competition is always welcome from our point of view, particularly in the West Indies where Bangladesh are relatively new.”

In their first World Cup appearance, in 1999, Bangladesh beat Scotland and Pakistan, but have failed to win a World Cup game since then. But Bangladesh will no doubt draw some confidence from wins over Sri Lanka, India and Australia since the last World Cup in 2003 in South Africa. Whatmore said Bangladesh will be using next month’s World Cup as a stepping stone to break into the top eight of the ICC full-member teams. “We hope to move to the next level. Although the World Cup stage is a very big one, it is becoming more of a reality. The team are becoming more mature, the team are improving and we have strung together some pretty good victories, albeit against oppositions that we are supposed to win anyway,” Whatmore said.