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DHAKA TRIBUNE
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Bangladesh lose Shamsur after WI restricted to 380 n Tribune Desk
Visiting Bangladesh side trailed by 355 runs with 9 wickets remaining at tea in the 1st innings on day two of the second and last Test against West Indies at St Lucia yesterday. Bangladesh replying to the home side’s 380 runs in the first innings scored 25 runs losing the wicket of opening batsman Shamsur Rahman. Tamim Iqbal was unbeaten on 23 with Anamul Haque who had added a single run to the tally. Shamsur could score only one run before going back to the dressing room. The right handed batsman facing Kemar Roach, tried to flick the ball which was sliding down the leg side but only got a little tickle on it. Earlier, West Indies turned a bad morning into a good afternoon which should have had encouraged their bowlers, after they were bowled out for 380 in the first innings. Shivnarine Chanderpaul made an unbeaten 84, but more crucial were his half-century partnerships with the eighth and ninth wickets. After West Indies had slipped to 269 for 7 in the early session of the day,
Chanderpaul added a rapid 54 with Jerome Taylor, who hammered 40 with five fours and two sixes. Then, with the No.10 Suleiman Benn, Chanderpaul put up 52, with Benn making 25 before being caught at fine-leg off Al-Amin Hossain. Shannon Gabriel, however, could not stonewall, as he was cleaned up by Robiul Islam. Bangladesh’s pace attack was miserly to start off with, and they triggered a West Indies collapse which saw four wickets fall for 18 runs in the space of 3.4 overs, before the tail-enders frustrated them. Al-Amin took three wickets while there was two each for Robiul, Shafiul Islam and Taijul Islam. Mahmudullah’s only wicket was that of Kirk Edwards. Despite their promise shown by the seamers, Bangladesh’s fielding left a lot to be desired. Chanderpaul was dropped on four while Taylor was given a reprieve on 18. Edwards and Leon Johnson, however, could not take advantage of the lives they were gifted on the first day. Even though the visitors dominated the first session, West Indies did pick up 95 runs in the 23 overs before lunch, as well as another 39 runs in 11 overs before being bowled out. l
False ceiling comes off at SKICS n Minhaz Uddin Khan The false ceiling in the dressing room at Sheikh Kamal International Cricket Stadium (SKICS) crashed down yesterday during the first day of the four-day match between Bangladesh A and Zimbabwe A. However, the accident left no casualties. The only person near the dressing room was national selector and manager of the Bangladesh A team Minhajul Abedin who was relieved and said, “Thanks to the Almighty I
was left unharmed”. “I was sitting in the dressing room alone the whole time. For no reason I went out and within a minute the ceiling crashed down,” informed Minhajul to Dhaka Tribune yesterday. Several attempts were made for an official statement from the Bangladesh Cricket Board on the incident, but concerned officials did not respond when this report was filed. The first match hosted by the venue was the women’s ODI between Bangladesh and Pakistan on March 5, 2014. l
Barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh (4L) distributes prizes to the Nepalese teams on the final day of the 2nd Sheikh Russel Roll Ball Championship at the Abahani ground yesterday COURTESY
‘Honestly I never expected this’ n Mazhar Uddin
The nine-wicket haul is a career defying moment and the Bangladesh A left-arm spinner Saqlain Sajib is over the moon for his achievements at the SKICS yesterday. The 9 for 82 against the Zimbabwe A on the first day of the first four-day match is his career-best figures and Saqlain told Dhaka Tribune, “I never thought that I will be able to pick nine out of 10 Zimbabwean wickets today (yesterday). “I was trying to bowl at the right line and length and got the wickets but honestly I never expected something like this,” he added. The 25-year old broke the steady 43-run opening partnership of Vusi Sibanda and Tino Mawoyo and went on to rattle the visiting line-up as Zimbabwe were bowled out for 206. It was the Rajshahi lad’s friend and teammate Forhad Hossain, another seasoned campaigner, who took the other Zimbabwean wicket to deny Saqlain of a 10-for. His previous best was 7 for 29 in the National Cricket League. “I did not play well in recent years and I worked hard to improve my bowling. My coach Jamiur Rahman Saad helped me in the nets in Rajshahi where I used to practice at the Jubo Sangha School ground during the off seasons,” said Saqlain before adding that he is not expecting a national team call-up and just wants to perform consistently wherever he gets the opportunity. The tall left-arm spinner has 229 first class wickets from 52 matches with 14 five-wicket hauls. l
relaunches title bid
U-23 open Asian Games football today n Raihan Mahmood
DAY 2, AT TEA West Indies 1st innings Brathwaite c Taijul Islam b Shafiul 63 LR Johnson lbw b Taijul 66 KA Edwards c Shamsur b Mahmudullah 16 DM Bravo c Mushfiqur b Robiul 46 S Chanderpaul not out 84 J Blackwood c Anamul b Al-Amin 8 D Ramdin c Mushfiqur b Al-Amin 0 KAJ Roach c Mushfiqur b Shafiul 0 JE Taylor c Mahmudullah b Taijul 40 SJ Benn c Shafiul b Al-Amin 25 ST Gabriel b Robiul 4 Extras (b 8, lb 4, w 10, nb 6) 28 Total (all out; 124 overs) 380 Bowling Al-Amin 31-6-80-3, Shafiul 27-7-80-2, Robiul 26-7-63-2, Taijul 224-89-2, Mahmudullah 16-2-49-1, Nasir 2-0-7-0 Bangladesh 1st innings Tamim Iqbal not out 23 Shamsur Rahman c Ramdin b Roach 1 Anamul Haque not out 1 Extras 0 Total (1 wicket; 12 overs) 25 Bowling Taylor 6-1-16-0, Roach 4-2-5-1, Gabriel 2-0-4-0
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Monday, September 15, 2014
Bangladesh will take the field for their Asian Games U-23 football opener against Afghanistan at 2pm BST at Incheon, Korea today. Winger Jahid Hossain, called up to replace the injured defender Atikur Rahman Mishu, flew to Korea last night and is scheduled to reach Korea three
De Kruif has been motivating his players for a total teamwork against Afghanistan
Bangladesh pacer Robiul Islam celebrates a wicket with Mahmudullah during the second day of their second and final Test match against West Indies at St Lucia yesterday WICB
BANGLADESH A v ZIMBABWE A, FOUR-DAY MATCH
Saqlain’s nine-wicket haul put hosts in driving seat n Reazur Rahman Rohan Saqlain Sajib pulled a rabbit out of the hat as he bagged his career best nine wickets in an innings to foil the visiting Zimbabwe A side for just over 200 runs on the first day of the four-day match at Cox’s Bazar yesterday. The Bangladesh A side are in complete control of the encounter after they ended the day by scoring 30 without any loss of wickets. Opting to bat, visiting captain Vusi Sibanda put on 43 for the first wicket with Tino Mawoyo (12) before the latter was removed by left-arm spinner Saqlain. Sibanda added a further 61 runs for the second wicket with Brian Chari (30) as the visitors were cruising along pretty well. However, Saqlain struck once again to break the partnership and in the space of few overs Zimbabwe were reeling at 122 for seven with Saqlain dismissing six of them. Sibanda, who made 62, accounted rash strokeplay and that the wicket not behaving up to the standard as the main reason behind their poor show. Sibanda said the wicket was “not up to standard as it already started to break on the first day.” “It (wicket) was slow from the very beginning while the ball also kept low apart from the turns the wicket provided. We tried to play too many strokes and ended up gifting our wick-
Saqlain Sajib ets,” Sibanda told Dhaka Tribune over phone yesterday. Coming in at No. 5, Regis Chakabva scored a valiant 64 to help Zimbabwe reach 206 before they were bowled out in the last session of the day. Bangladesh A skipper Naeem Islam must be a very happy captain after day one as his spinning duo Saqlain, 9 for 82, and Forhad Hossain, 1 for 26, did a smooth job before the young home side openers, Liton Kumar (23) and Sadman Islam (4), ensured no casualties. l
hours before the match kicks off. The team management is likely to field Jahid in the playing XI after assessing his fitness. On the other hand, midfielder Omar Faruk Babu will be sidelined due to injury. The conditions are not alien to Bangladesh booters and the climate is also pleasant. Head coach Lodewij de Kruif has been motivating his players for a total teamwork against Afghanistan whose national team won the Saff Championship last year in Nepal. l
Shakib a free man today n Minhaz Uddin Khan
Shakib al Hasan will be a relieved man as his three-month suspension from competitive cricket ends today. The No. 1 all-rounder in Tests and among the top five all-rounders in the other two formats, the Bangladeshi was initially handed a six-month suspension by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on July 7 citing Shakib has a ‘serious attitude problem’. His misbehaviour with Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha and an altercation with a spectator during the ODI series against India at home in June this year also saw the board bar Shakib from playing in the overseas domestic competitions till the end of next year. The board reconsidered the punishment in their meeting on August 7 after Shakib apologised and appealed for reduction on his suspension. Shakib will now be able to participate in the Dhaka Premier League scheduled in October and will be available for selection for the home series against Zimbabwe next month. Shakib will also represent Bangladesh in the Asian Games in Korea this month. However, the BCB did not lift the ban on his NOC (No Objection Certificate) and as a result he will be missing the Champions League Twenty20 for his IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders. According to BCB chief Nazmul Hasan, the board could consider lifting the ban on NOC given Shakib shows improvement in his behaviour. l
Maruf, a victim of dirty politics? n Raihan Mahmood AKM Maruful Haque, the rising football coach of the country, submitted his appeal on Saturday in order to reconsider his one-year ban imposed by the Professional Football League Committee (PFLC) of the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) last month. Due to the harsh nature of the punishment, it seems like Maruf has fallen prey of a conspiracy and also a victim of dirty politics. Former Sheikh Russel coach Maruf had criticised the PFLC and accused the committee of favouring the big clubs while scheduling the fixtures of the top flight. And according to the BFF’s disciplinary code, “Anyone who insults someone in any way, especially by using offensive gesture or language, will be sanctioned with a match suspension. If the perpetrator is an official, he will be suspended for at least four matches. A fine as well as a ban on performing any football-related activity, as referred to in Article 22, may also be pronounced.”
BFF general secretary Abu Naeem Shohag informed the appeal committee will now look into the issue. “We have received Maruful Haque’s appeal for withdrawing his suspension. We will refer this appeal to the Appeal Committee and they will take the final decision.” However, the suspension dished out by the BFF categorically shows that certain quarters advocated a longer ban. Maruf’s 12-month suspension is indeed extreme and disproportionate to the offence he committed. Temperamental coaches like Jose Mourinho, the now retired Sir Alex Ferguson and Diego Siemone often paid fines for uncontrolled comments and are sometimes banned from the touchline but are never kept out of football. Surprisingly the suspension notice was delivered when Maruf was attending the second part of his pro-license course in the United Kingdom. The ban was a laughing stock as almost all the local media reported that Maruf will be in the UK during that time. Maybe the
BFF did not know that Maruf was not in the country when they handed out the suspension. Apparently, a quarter of the federation and club officials were angry with Maruf as he was not in good terms with his former club Russel, who sacked him in the middle of last season. He then joined eventual champions Sheikh Jamal as the technical director. With Joseph Afusi no more at the helm of Sheikh Jamal as a coach, Maruf was associated with the team as its technical director. Maruf was poised to take on the post of head coach at Sheikh Jamal and the rival club officials played a big role behind the suspension as they wanted to halt the progression in his coaching career. A number of senior coaches were reportedly said to teach him a lesson. Dubbed as the future national coach for his fresh and methodical approach, Maruf’s one-year ban shows that a professional approach and attitude in Bangladesh football is still missing. l
Winners of different categories in the Citycell Captain Golf Tournament pose for a photo during the presentation ceremony at the Kurmitola Golf Club on Friday COURTESY