series against australia - Dhaka Mirror

BCB hoping against hope

Admin — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 13:19:18 +0000

The Bangladesh Cricket Board did not give up their hope to revive the home series against Australia despite Cricket Australia asked its cricketers on Wednesday to leave the camp to join their state teams.
The BCB was expecting the CA to give a decision today when it sits in a meeting with outcome of a visit of its security chief, Sean Carroll, and two other officials to Bangladesh.The Australia team was scheduled to depart on Monday for a two-Test series but it was told to stay back after the Australian government warned about a potential security risk from militants.
The killing of an Italian citizen in top-security zone in Dhaka coupled with security warning from UK, US and Canada only made the tour increasingly uncertain as Australia ponders its move.
However, the BCB officials are not ready to call it an end before an official announcement comes.
‘It still stands where it was,’ BCB chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury told reporters on Wednesday.
‘It is right that they have sent their players for state teams but that does not imply the tour is cancelled.’
Nizamuddin said they are yet to think about compensation in case the series is cancelled as Bangladesh has historical cricketing relationship with Australia.
‘It’s too early to think negatively. They have been our friends for years and all of a sudden we just cannot say everything has changed,’ he said.
‘So there is no reason to think beyond the series.’
The BCB has offered a higher level of security for Australian players and Nizamuddin said this is what they could do best.
‘To be honest this kind of security is not provided to any teams in the world,’ said Nizamuddin.
‘We have hosted the World Twenty20 where 24 teams were involved. We did that successfully, so there is no reason why we cannot give the security to just one team,’ he said.
The BCB chief executive however admitted they already started thinking alternative plans if Australia ultimately cancel the tour.
‘At the moment, our plan is to release the players for National Cricket League,’ he said, referring to the second round of first-class competition, which gets underway on October 3.

-With New Age input

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Fitness Hathuru’s major priority

Admin — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 05:28:11 +0000

Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusinghe said on Thursday his priority will be to improve the fitness of the players ahead of their home series against Australia as it is expected to play a crucial part. The Bangladesh Cricket Board held a fitness camp of 27 elite players from August 22 under trainer Mario Villavarayan before Hathurusinghe took over on last week and started skill training.
Hathurusinghe insisted he will still continue focusing on fitness, something which is needed to be improved as Tigers played some grueling cricket since the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand early in the year.
‘This is the first time we got time to get back our fitness,’ Hathurusinghe said at a press conference on Thursday. ‘We have been playing since the World Cup.
‘Players need to get their strength back while their mind has to be refreshed.
‘Mario [Villavarayan] is really happy with the players’ commitment. Normally he is not an easy man to impress but he is really enjoying the work. I gave that compliment to the players.
‘It is a good mind shift from the players,’ he said.
Hathurusinghe said fitness will be crucial for the batsmen against Australia who are known to take advantage from the slightest of fatigue from their opponents
‘For the batsmen, fitness is crucial,’ he said.
‘You can’t play a long innings if you are not fit. The fatigue comes, your concentration goes, and as a batsman you need one split second failure to lose your wicket,’ he said.
Hathurusinghe said it is also important to keep the fast bowlers fit as Bangladesh do not have too many options.
‘We don’t have many fast bowlers but we have to look after them,’ he said. ‘I would love to see 10 fast bowlers fighting for three places. It is not happening at the moment. Whenever we can, we need to keep them fit and ready to play.’
The former Sri Lankan Test opener said he is looking forward to prepare his charges with the mindset of developing a Test team and he believes they will be able to put something historic against Australia.
‘Regardless of whoever comes, playing against Australia is a big task for us,’ he said. ‘I am really optimistic because the conditions are going to challenge them. We are improving as a team. I am hoping, we can do something that we haven’t done before.
‘You can’t take them lightly. They have the best system in the world to produce cricketers. Recently their ‘A’ team did well in India. It is going to be a challenge in any way,’ he said.
Bangladesh played four Test matches against Australia and lost all but one by an innings margin. Their only significant show in Tests against Australia is the fighting three-wicket loss at Fatullah during their last series back in 2006.

-With New Age input

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Tigers start conditioning camp sans stars

Admin — Sun, 23 Aug 2015 05:33:34 +0000

Twenty-seven-member elite squad of the Bangladesh Cricket Board began their four-week long conditioning camp at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Saturday for the forthcoming home series against Australia. National team trainer Mario Villavarayen conducted the camp without six cricketers — Test skipper Mushfiqur Rahim, Sakib al Hasan, Mashrafee bin Murtaza, Sabbir Rahman, Rony Talukdar and Abul Hasan who were absent on personal grounds.
The first two weeks of the camp will focus on the strength and conditioning for the home series against Australia, due in town on September 28 to play a two-match Test series against the Tigers, scheduled for October 9-13 in Chittagong and October 17-21 in Dhaka.
Villavarayen was optimistic that this camp will not only benefit the national team cricketers but also those who will not be included for the national set-up as it will help them to be tuned up before beginning their domestic season.
The camp also brought Tigers back to the cricket ground after they enjoyed a rest for a month-and-a-half since the completion of home series against South Africa.
Before the Proteas series they had a hectic schedule with World Cup and two other home series against Pakistan and India.
‘The whole purpose of this testing is to see where they are and what to achieve,’ Mario told reporters after the end of opening day’s camp.
‘You have got four weeks to work with them and these four weeks is after a while. These four weeks is important because you have got six months of cricket ahead.
‘Even if it is domestic cricket these four weeks is important for the next six months because there is a lot of domestic cricket coming up.
‘Some of them went because of family reasons because they will do it later. Maybe the HP guys will also be doing their fitness test next week,’ he said.
The elite squad members will also be considered for the Bangladesh A team’s tour to South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Bangladesh A team will leave home for South Africa on October 15 to play a three-day match and two one-dayers before moving on to Zimbabwe where they will play two four-day matches and three one-dayers and as many Twenty20 matches.
In the opening day, though everyone had completed their beep tests, national opener Tamim Iqbal skipped it in order to shield his injured left knee from further trouble.
When every players were taking their beep Test at the indoor, Tamim was seen running at the SBNS for five rounds.
‘He [Tamim Iqbal] has got knee problems, so he did not do his beep test. He did running test outside,’ said Mario.
Mario also said that there were fitness concerns regarding off-spinner Sohag Gazi, who looked to have a lifeline to revive his international career along with paceman Al-Amin Hossain, after selectors included them in the camp.
‘There is concern with his [Gazi] fitness. But he was away from cricket for a while. For the next four weeks we will try to get his fitness level up.
‘It’s always the case. Yes we do fitness test in group but when we do as a programme, it’s an individual thing. We will have their individual programme later.’

-With New Age input

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BCB names 27-member ‘elite’ squad

Admin — Thu, 20 Aug 2015 07:00:16 +0000

The Bangladesh Cricket Board on Wednesday announced a 27-member elite squad for a conditioning camp ahead of the home series against Australia.
The players will start their training from August 22 with opening two weeks focusing on strength and conditioning under trainer Mario Villavarayen.Australia is due to arrive on September 28 to play two Test matches against Tigers, scheduled from October 9-13 and October 17-21 respectively in Chittagong and Dhaka respectively.
The elite squad members will also be considered for the Bangladesh A team’s tour to South Africa and Zimbabwe, said selector Minhajul Abedin.
Bangladesh A team will leave home for South Africa on October 15 to play a three-day match and two one-dayers before moving on to Zimbabwe where they will play two four-day matches and three one-dayers and as many Twenty20 matches.
‘We have selected the team keeping in mind of our A-team as well as the Test squad,’ said Abedin.
Squad
Tamim Iqbal, Taijul Islam, Imrul Kayes, Arafat Sunny, Mominul Haque, Jubair Hossain, Anamul Haque, Sohag Gazi, Rony Talukdar, Mashrafee bin Murtaza, Mohammad Mithun, Taskin Ahmed, Liton Kumar Das, Rubel Hossain, Soumya Sarkar, Mustafizur Rahman, Mahmudullah, Abul Hassan, Sakib al Hasan, Mohammad Shahid, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shafiul Islam, Shuvagata Hom, Robiul Islam, Nasir Hossain, Al-Amin Hossain and Sabbir Rahman.

-With New Age input

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