September 25 Wednesday 2002
BD cricketers leave for South Africa

DHAKA: The Bangladesh cricket squad, fresh from a disastrous route from the ICC Champion Trophy in Sri Lanka, left here Tuesday for their month-long tour of South Africa where they will play two Tests and three limited over matches.

Four newly included players - batsmen Sanwar Hossain, Hannan Sarkar, Rafiqul Islam and bowler Anwar Hossain - for the tour beginning September 27, will join the rest of the team in Dubai on their way to South Africa for their second tour since 2000.

Skipper and wicketkeeper Khaled Mashud along with his team left Colombo for Dubai, cricket officials said. In last encounter in Colombo on Monday, New Zealand dismissed Bangladesh for their second-lowest total of 77 to post a 167-run win in an inconsequential match.

The three dropped from Champion Trophy squad are teenager Mohammad Ashraful, off-spinner Fahim Muntasir and middle-order batsman Mazharul Haque.

Since gaining Test status in June 2000, Bangladesh lost in 12 of the 13 Tests they played. The lone match they drew was a rain-marred Test last year against Zimbabwe.

Squad: Khaled Mashud (captain), Habibul Bashar, Al-Shahriar, Tushar Imran, Khaled Mahmud, Manjurul Islam, Talha Jubair, Mohammad Rafique, Tapas Baishya, Alok Kapali, Javed Omar, Hannan Sarkar, Sanwar Hossain, Rafiqul Islam, Anwar Hossain.