Zimbabwe will arrive this Friday for three Tests and five ODIs
Ahead of the upcoming home series against Zimbabwe later this month, the Bangladesh cricket team began their preparation camp at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday with former vice captain Mahmudullah expressing his confidence that the national side will be able to end a disappointing year on a high note.
Earlier on Saturday the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had announced a 32-man preliminary squad and all the members of the squad joined the training camp after the Eid vacation, including the newly-wedded Mushfiqur Rahim. On the opening day of the camp, the national cricketers spent their time playing football and working out in the gym.
Following an abject year so far for Bangladesh, the forthcoming Zimbabwe series is likely to be the last international assignment for the Tigers before the 2015 ICC World Cup in Australia-New Zealand. And all-rounder Mahmudullah is confident that they would be able to claim both the Test and ODI series.
“We are going through a very rough time in the last few months and I have never faced such a time in my whole cricket career. But I am hopeful of finishing this year on a high. Our main focus now is the Zimbabwe series and we are hoping to win both formats of the game,” said Mahmudullah.
Mahmudullah also added that the much talked about split captaincy decision for Tests and ODIs was actually encouraged by the cricketers as it will start taking effect from the Zimbabwe series.
Zimbabwe will arrive this Friday for three Tests and five ODIs.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwean Richard Halsall has signed a new contract with the BCB as the permanent fielding coach of the Tigers. Halsall was previously in charge of the post temporarily during the Tigers’ recent tour of the West Indies. However, the Zimbabwean has now signed a permanent contract after his previous deal with the England and Wales Cricket Board expired this month.
BCB media committee chairman Jalal Younus informed that they have completed the formalities of the contract through email and the paper work will be done soon. “We have made the contract with him (Halsall) as the fielding coach. However, the paper work will be done very soon,” said Jalal.
Before joining the Tigers, Halsall performed his duties as an assistant coach with the English national side for four years.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
