David Hemp, Bangladesh women’s newly-appointed head coach, wants his side to return home from Australia without any regrets about not having played their brand of cricket. Hemp, 55, will begin his two-year stint with the Bangladesh women’s team with the three-match ODI series against Australia, starting at Allan Border Field in Brisbane on October 9.
“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.
“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 said.
The appointment marks Hemp’s return to the Bangladesh women’s setup, having previously worked as batting coach during the 2025 ICC Women’s ODI World Cup Qualifier in Pakistan and the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier in Nepal earlier this year.
His previous association with the team, Hemp believes, has helped ease his transition back into the setup as Bangladesh prepare for their first bilateral series against Australia in Australia. “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 said.
Hemp also acknowledged the challenge of adapting to the pace and bounce of Australian wickets, conditions Bangladesh’s players are not accustomed to, but said they had made good progress during their preparations.
“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,” Hemp concluded.
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