Mumbai, July 23: Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons wants other players to ease the burden on team acting captain Shakib al-Hasan.

"Shakib has done a fantastic job and it is great to see that the extra responsibility has not affected his performance. I am still keen to use others to ease the burden on him as captaining our team is very difficult and especially for such young men like Ashraful and Shakib," Siddons said told this newspaper, after winning the away Test series against the West Indies.

Praising the new skipper, he added, "Shakib is a world-class player and Bangladesh should be very excited about his performance. He would have been one of my choices as captain if Ash (Mohammad Ashraful) was to be replaced."

In the final Test, Shakib missed out on his ton in the second innings. "Shakib contributed but the whole team played very well and should be applauded for their efforts. We are an improving, young team who will have many ups and downs for a while. As I have said before, we must give these talented players time to mature and get used to and become more confident at playing International cricket.

"As coach, I was alarmed at the reaction of many people to our result in England recently as it was not a true indication of the team’s ability.

"I am glad we have now shown that we are an improving team. We have many areas that need much work, but it all takes time and patience," Siddons added.