Former South African cricket captain Kepler Wessels feels current Test skipper Graeme Smith’s interest in the game had taken a tumble but the hunger could be back after his recent marriage to Irish singer Morgan Deane. Wessels told ‘Sportsday’ since Smith has relinquished his one-day and Twenty20 captaincy to AB de Villiers, he could be ... Read more
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Zim’s gateway to cricket
The venue for the practice match between Bangladesh and the Zimbabwe XI is the Interfin Bank High Performance Centre, more popularly known as the Academy. Alistair Campbell, the former Zimbabwe captain, is now the chairman of the cricket committee at Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) and is the brains behind this remodelled centre after it was burned ... Read more
Mushfique saves Tigers blushes
A resilient knock of 64 by Mushfiqur Rahim gave some respectability to Bangladesh’s innings as they were all out for 188 in their first inning against Zimbabwe Board XI in Harare on Saturday. Mushfique’s knock came after a familiar top-order batting collapse saw Bangladesh reeling at 35 for five after skipper Sakib al Hasan won ... Read more
Tired Tigers aim for match practice
Bangladesh are hoping for an out-and-out practice game when they take on the Zimbabwean XI at the Academy Ground in Harare from today. The three-day game would be an essential exercise ahead of the one-off Test for a team that is out of international cricket for almost four months and out of touch with Test ... Read more
The longest journey
Shakib Al Hasan, clad in the Tigers’ new tracksuit, walked out of the team hotel yesterday morning and sat in the sun-drenched driveway. “So this was the cold everyone was talking about,” he said with a wry smile. Some of the other members of the team followed the captain out to see the near-perfect weather ... Read more
Tamim gets a chance to hit three successive tons
Tamim Iqbal might have missed the golden opportunity to score 1000 runs in Test cricket as first Bangladeshi batsman in 2010 but another record beckons the country’s swashbuckling opener. When the one-off Test against Zimbabwe will begin on August 4, Tamim, arguably the best opener Bangladesh has ever produced will get the chance to hit ... Read more
Zimbabwe-bound Tigers upbeat
The Bangladesh cricket team left Dhaka yesterday for Zimbabwe with the hope of continuing their recent supremacy over the hosts. Prior to their departure captain Shakib Al Hasan and his deputy Tamim Iqbal told reporters at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport that they were looking forward to playing their best cricket during the
Tigers excited about Test return
Without being unduly bothered about their prolonged absence from the longer-version of the game, the Bangladesh national team players were instead upbeat about getting back to the number one form of the game; Test cricket. Terming the five-day game as the best form, both Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan and new
Law prepared to get tough
Bangladesh coach Stuart Law has cautioned his charges that they will be taken to task if they are not ready to listen to him. During a press briefing on Monday ahead of the month-long Zimbabwe tour, Law said: ‘I am here to help along with other coaching staff, to try and get the best out ... Read more
Change of guard
Nafees Iqbal may well have played his last Test five years ago, but the most telling contribution of his 12-match career came on January 18, 2005. It was the last day of the second Test against Zimbabwe and in front of a semi-packed Bangabandhu National Stadium, the Tigers had to bat out three full sessions ... Read more
Sakib warned, at last
The Bangladesh Cricket Board has finally come up with an official warning for embattled skipper Sakib al Hasan after his recent outburst against selectors and a decision to skip training created a furor. The BCB sent a warning letter to Sakib on Sunday, confirmed the officials, adding that the skipper was told of his limit ... Read more
Tamim cleared to play Test in Zimbabwe
Bangladesh can heave a sigh of relief as opener Tamim Iqbal has been cleared to play the one-off Test match against Zimbabwe next month after a scan on his injured groin on Sunday showed no severe damage. Tamim picked up the groin injury in his penultimate match for Nottinghamshire in the Friend Life Twenty-20 tournament ... Read more
Tigers toil till the end
Tasamul Haque and Alauddin Babu nearly spoiled Tigers’ preparation for the Zimbabwe tour but their untimely dismissals gave the national side a narrow escape in their last practice match against GP-BCB National Cricket Academy yesterday. The Mushfiqur Rahim-led side finally won the game at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium by 40
Law not impressed with batting
Bangladesh’s new coach Stuart Law has asked his batsmen not to repeat the mistakes they made during the second warm-up match against the GP-BCB Academy in order to avoid trouble in the upcoming one-off Test and one-day series against Zimbabwe. Law, who watched the Tigers win the two-day match against the Academy team at the ... Read more
Tamim looks to make up for lost time
Bangladesh vice-captain Tamim Iqbal said on Saturday that it will take one or two more practice sessions for himself and skipper Sakib al Hasan to get up to the speed with the rest of the squad after missing a large part of the preparation camp for the tour of Zimbabwe. Tamim was away in England ... Read more
Sakib clears the air, finally
Beleaguered Bangla-desh skipper Sakib al Hasan finally came to terms with the fact that he has played it wrong by publicly criticising the selectors and not seeking a leave before skipping training. Sakib cleared the smoke in a meeting with the selectors and Bangladesh Cricket Board chief executive officer Manzur Ahmed on Friday and said ... Read more
Talent impressive, pitches not so
Lawson’s Verdict Talent impressive, pitches not so Geoff Lawson’s period as the specialist fast bowling coach for the GP-BCB National Cricket Academy ended yesterday with mostly encouraging words except for a warning that could greatly help the Tigers in the immediate future. The former Australian cricketer, who arrived on July 4, mainly worked with the ... Read more
Nafees keeps up form
Shahriar Nafees continued his good form in the practice matches as the left-hander hit 72 against the GP-BCB National Cricket Academy team in a rain-interrupted day at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday. The national batsmen looked quite uncomfortable against the young academy bowlers and the 104-ball 72 from opener Nafees, who slammed a hundred ... Read more
Sakib style of seeking leave
Sakib al Hasan thought a text message to cricket operations chief Enayet Hossain should be enough for him to take a leave from national team duty. Sakib sent a text message to Siraj on Thursday to justify his unauthorised absence from the team’s training camp, which came as the latest surprise after he had already ... Read more
Law starts work sans Sakib
New Bangladesh coach Stuart Law began his work with the Tigers on Sunday at the Sher-e Bangla National Stadium without skipper Sakib al Hasan and his deputy Tamim Iqbal. Tamim was given a week’s rest to nurse his groin injury, but the absence of Sakib came as a mystery as he did not inform the ... Read more