Former captain Mohammad Ashraful, fast bowler Abul Hasan, spinner Enamul Haque junior and batsman Mohammad Nazimuddin have been excluded from Bangladesh’s preliminary squad for the series against New Zealand in October.Ashraful is serving a ban after his involvement with match-fixing during the Bangladesh Premier League earlier this year, Hasan is nursing a back injury, Nazimuddin has endured a trying run of form and Haque is committed to club cricket in England.
Batsman Raqibul Hasan, who has not played international cricket since October 2011, has earned a recall. All-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, currently on holiday in America, will miss the pre-tournament camp – but will later play for Leicestershire in the Friends Life T20.
Coach Shane Jurgensen, meanwhile, has insisted a lengthy ban for Ashraful will be to the detriment of the team if the International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption and security unit further implicate the player.
“If Mohammad is banned, it is a huge loss in the batting order for us. But that’s all I am really going to say. I don’t know the findings of the investigations. He’s batting well and if he’s banned, we will miss him. There was a little bit of disbelief there, but I am not going to comment any further,” said Jurgensen.
Squad: Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan, Nasir Hossain, Ziaur Rahman, Jahurul Islam, Shafiul Islam, Abdur Razzak, Anamul Haque, Sohag Gazi, Rubel Hossain, Mominul Haque, Shamsur Rahman, Marshall Ayub, Shahriar Nafees, Shahadat Hossain, Robiul Islam, Sajidul Islam, Elias Sunny, Mashrafe Mortaza, Naeem Islam, Junaid Siddique, Mosharraf Hossain, Imrul Kayes, Raqibul Hasan, Farhad Reza, Saqlain Sajib, Mehrab Hossain jnr, Nazmul Hossain Milon.
(Source: Cricket365.com)
