The national players reunited after one-and-a-half months as the month-long conditioning camp for them began at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Saturday.
The camp, which will be supervised by trainer Grant Lunded, the only surviving coaching staff in the aftermath of a low-key World Cup campaign, coincided with the taking office of the new selection committee.
The members of the selection committee, led by former captain Akram Khan, began their work formally by cutting a cake, which gave the camp a festive look at the very outset.
A total of 28 cricketers out of 32 reported to Luden for the camp which will have three phases. The players will leave for BKSP on June 10 and after five-day stay at the academy they will be back in Dhaka.
After two weeks of intense training, they will be split into two groups with the national squad heading to Cox’s Bazar for five-day training and ‘A’ team players leaving for Malaysia for a Twenty20 tournament.
Skipper Sakib al Hasan will miss the entire camp for his commitment with county side Worchestershire. Vice-captain Tamim Iqbal could not report on the opening day as he was busy with his IELTS exam.
The others missing the opening day’s training are paceman Shafiul Islam, who is nursing an injury, while Junaed Siddique could not come as his father is sick.
One of the unique features of this camp is a Yo Yo test which replaced traditional bleep test. The cricketer had their first knowledge about the test with some results producing some interesting data.
Batsman Roqibul Hassan scored highest 14 while none other could manage more than 11.
Luden was still impressed with the performance. ‘I am pretty happy with that,’ Luden told reporters after the first day’s training.
‘Some of the guys were not in the touch for a long time and it is also new to many of them,’ he said. Fitness will be one of the key issues for the players when the selectors will pick their first squad for a Test and one-day series against Zimbabwe at the end of this month.
Chief selector Akram Khan said they will also put emphasis on discipline and attitude. The three-member selection committee, which also included two other former captains Minhajul Abedin and Habibul Bashar, had a meeting with the players before they were baptised.
‘We explained to them if we can improve individually we will also improve as a team. The players were told that our door will be always open to them,’ he said.
Courtesy of New Age
