Cricket

Agence France-Presse . Chennai India’s cricket selectors on Friday picked Lakshmipathy Balaji for the New Zealand tour, after a four-year Test absence for the fit-again seamer. Balaji, 27, who last played a Test match in March, 2005 before suffering a career-threatening stress fracture to his back, was named in a 16-man squad for the three-Test ... Read more

Afp, Karachi Pakistan cricket received a further blow Friday with the cancellation of a tri-series in Dubai scheduled for late March due to the unavailability of the Sri Lankan team, a top official said. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief operating officer Salim Altaf told AFP that the event would be scrapped. “We have been told ... Read more

Sports Reporter Old DOHS Sports Club, Cricket Coaching School(CCS) and BKSP won their respective matches on Thursday. At the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur, Old DOHS Sports Club composed a sensational five-run win over Surjo Torun Club. Batting first Old DOHS Sports Club scored 183 for the loss of nine wickets in the allotted ... Read more

Mohammad Isam If cricket officials of the country were proud of Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and Mohammad Ashraful on Friday, they should now be thankful to the duo for bringing some much-needed buzz into this year’s domestic competition and lure a sponsor that they are yet to get for the premier club event. The Premier League ... Read more

Sports Reporter The phrase ‘when the going gets tough he gets going’ perhaps fits more appropriately for Mashrafe Bin Mortaza. A cricketer with both his knees operated on and has been fighting against freakish injury ever since his Bangladesh debut in 2001 added another daring chapter in his never-say-die career on Friday. He entered the ... Read more

Staff Correspondent Mohammad Ashraful has been retained as the captain of the national cricket team until the West Indies tour in June-July, the Bangladesh Cricket Board said on Saturday.  The BCB was under pressure to replace Ashraful after the 24-year-old right-handed batsman had managed to score only 12 runs in three one-day internationals against Zimbabwe ... Read more

Sports Reporter Sri Lanka National Women’s Cricket team beat Pakistan National Women’s Cricket team by three wickets in their ODI match of the Grameenphone Women’s Tri-Nation Cricket Tournament at the Shaheed Chandu Stadium in Bogra on Saturday. Trailing Pakistan’s 103 off 41.5 overs, Sri Lanka sailed home in 30.4 overs scoring 105 for the loss ... Read more

Sports Reporter Mashrafe Bin Mortaza hit an amazing figure when the Kolkata Knight Riders purchased the Bangladesh fast bowler for six-lakh dollars (US) after a sensational bidding in the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction in Goa yesterday. There was more good news for the Tigers as Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful was sold to Mumbai Indians, ... Read more

Bishwajit Roy When the news first broke, Mashrafe bin Mortaza’s first reaction was astonishment, which goes to explain his first words. “This is totally unexpected,” said the man who has been dubbed the Narail Express by adulating

Biman take third place Staff Correspondent Roqibul Hassan and Dollar Mahmud shared an unbroken 65-run stand off 33 balls to help Mohammedan Sporting Club lift the Premier Division Twenty20 Cricket Tournament title defeating Gazi Tanks by 20 runs at the

Grameenphone Women’s Tri-Nation Series Bangladesh better now Ameeruddin Zain Bangladesh women’s cricket team captain Salma Khatun believes that her team has come a long way since the Asia Cup in Colombo last year. “We have played two practice matches prior to the series and I think we are a much improved side now,” said Salma ... Read more

Premier Twenty20 final today Staff Correspondent Opener Imrul Kayes and seamer Rubel Hossain starred with bat and ball to help newly-promoted Gazi Tanks crush holders Abahani by eight wickets to reach the final of the Premier Twenty20 Tournament on Tuesday. Mohammedan Sporting Club, who defeated Bangladesh Biman by five wickets later in the second semi-final, ... Read more

Afp, Colombo Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralidaran equalled the one-day bowling record before India clinched the series with a crushing 147-run victory in the third match at the R Premadasa Stadium here on Tuesday. The tourists posted a challenging 363-5 following rapidfire centuries from Yuvraj Singh (117) and Virender Sehwag (116) and then dismissed the ... Read more

Agence France-Presse . Kingston West Indies have promised to make life tough for England when the sides start a four-Test series today at Sabina Park. England will start the series as the big favourites, having not lost a Test series to the Caribbean side in the last 15 years. That remarkable statistic takes on fuller ... Read more

Bishwajit Roy It was not a victory to celebrate. It rather came as a relief for Bangla-desh when they handed a six-wicket defeat to Zimbabwe in the second game to square the three-match series 1-1 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday. Anything other than a victory would not only have awarded the series ... Read more

Azad Majumder The lack of penetrating bowler at the death coupled with the poor thinking of captain Mohammad Ashraful left Bangladesh in an anguish of conceding a second heartbreaking two-wicket defeat in four days, this time against

UNB, Dhaka Barisal Division clinched the Ispahani Mirzapore Tea 10th National one-day Cricket League crown despite losing to Dhaka Division by 21 runs in the last round match at the Narayanganj Osmani Stadium in Fatullah on Monday. On completion of the day’s last and 10th round matches, both Barisal and Rajshahi divisions secured equal 14 ... Read more

Azad Majumder The decision to give Rubel Hossain the ball during the crucial power play against Sri Lanka had earned the Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful severe criticisms as it cost the team the match and the championship. But Ashraful had at least some point to defend himself after that Tri-nation Cup final as it could ... Read more

Bishwajit Roy “People only remember the wins, not the close matches,” Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful heaved a sigh in disappointment after their heartbreaking two-wicket defeat at the hands of Sri Lankan in the tri-nation

Quazi Zulquarnain Islam Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. – MARIANNE WILLIAMSON What a match! A topsy-turvy encounter encompassing all possible emotions a fan can experience, ended via the unexpectedly lusty blows of the wily Muttiah Muralidaran. He will have seen it ... Read more