Tour of Sri Lanka 2005-06                 Captain : Habibul Bashar

Bangladesh’s eleventh Test tour.

   (August - September 2005)

Third Test-playing tour of Sri Lanka by Bangladesh

   (previous Test tour 2002)

Despite some senior Board figures endorsing Habibul's request that the captain should no longer be appointed on a tour by tour basis he was named captain solely for this tour. Preparation for the tour took place at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, the new home of Bangladesh cricket with 8 outdoor turf pitches and 3 indoor pitches to beat the weather. However, the Tigers went ill-prepared so soon after playing a long tour of England, where they had encountered very different conditions.

On its third tour of Sri Lanka, the touring party was soon disrupted by injuries to the fast bowlers and internal rifts.  Rafique was fined for arguing at the practice ground about lack of treatment on his injured knee.

Bangladesh lost all the international matches heavily.  None of the batsmen were able to resist for long, although Bangladesh held the upper hand on the first day of both Tests. Blaming mental attitude for the heavy defeats, Habibul Bashar said the series against Sri Lanka was the worst tour he had undertaken since assuming the captaincy.

Having had time to regroup before the visit was returned in February 2006, Bangladesh gained its first-ever win against Sri Lanka in an ODI at Bogra.  In any case, as coach Dav Whatmore said, Bangladesh would improve only slowly. “With the population base we have, we are a sleeping giant. It is going to take some time."

All Bangladesh tours

Previous tour

to England 2005

Next tour

Sri Lanka 2007

Next tour of Sri Lanka

2007

Members of the Test tour party

(15 + 1) 

Opening batsmen:  Javed Omar, Nafees Iqbal, Shahriar Nafees

Middle-order batsmen  Habibul Bashar, Mohammad Ashraful, Aftab Ahmed, Rajin Saleh, Tushar Imran

Wicket-keeper/batsman: Khaled Mashud

Slow bowlers:  Manjural Islam Rana, Mohammad Rafique, Enamul Haque

Fast bowlers:Mashrafe Mortaza, Shahadat Hossain, Syed Rasel, Tapash Baishya

Divisional representation

(National Cricket League)

B  -  Barisal (1)

C  -  Chittagong (2)

D –  Dhaka (4)

Kh  -  Khulna (5)

Rj  -  Rajshahi (1)

S  -  Sylhet (3)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(12 September 2002):

 23 yrs 3 months.

ODI T20 member of the   one-day/Twenty20 squads.

Test Appearances made before the tour

Habibul Bashar 36,  Khaled Mashud 35,  Javed Omar 29,  Mohammad Ashraful 27,  Tapash Baishya 21,  Mohammad Rafique 20,  Mashrafe Mortaza 18,  Rajin Saleh 15,  Nafees Iqbal 8,  Aftab Ahmed 6,  Manjural Islam Rana 6,  Enamul Haq 5,  Tushar Imran 3,  Shahadat Hossain 1,  Shahriar Nafees 0,  Syed Rasel 0

Tour Officials

.

Selectors   

Faruque Ahmed (chief selector),  Dav Whatmore (coach),  Athar Ali Khan,   G.M.Nowsher Prince.

Habibul Bashar was invited to help national coach Dav Whatmore and selector Athar Ali Khan to finalise the squad as the other two selectors were out of the country: Faruque Ahmed on vacation in the USA while Golam Nowsher was managing the A Team's UK tour. It was the first time that Habibul Bashar was involved in selection discussions.

Selection

The selectors announced a 23-member preliminary squad of players on 19 July.

Habibul Bashar, Khaled Mashud, Javed Omar, Nafees Iqbal, Shahriar Nafees, Mohammad Ashraful, Aftab Ahmed, Rajin Saleh, Mohammad Rafique, Manjural Islam Rana, Enamul Haque Jr, Abdur Razzak Raj, Khaled Mahmud, Mashrafe Mortuza, Tapash Baisya, Nazmul Hossain, Shahadat Hossain Rajib, Syed Russel, Anwar Hossain Munir, Talha Jubair, Mushfiqur Rahim, Tushar Imran and Alok Kapali.

Pre-tour practice began at the Mirpur indoor facilities on 25 July  because the preparatory camp was taking place during the monsoon. Ten players were at that time in England, with the Bangladesh A tour.

Tour Party Announced at Chittagong : 10 August 2005.

Tapash Baisya's selection was subject to a fitness test on his ankle.

Time between selection and departure from Bangladesh

   14 days

 (10 August - 24 August)

Travel   

Dhaka  Q  Colombo

Departed from Zia International Airport at 1 pm on the afternoon of Wednesday 24 August by a Thai Airways flight, and arrived Colombo at 9 pm that evening. They had their initial practice session at the Nondescripts CC ground. The entire tour would take place in Colombo to reduce travelling.

The Test specialists (Enamul, Nafees, Shahadat) flew in on 5 September.

Chief selector Faruque Ahmed flew in on 12 September, with Saha Nurul Kabir Shakeen, Vice President of the Bangladesh Cricket Board.

Time spent in Sri Lanka

  33 days

(24 August   - 26 September)

On-tour selection panel

Faruque Ahmed,  Dav Whatmore,  Habibul Bashar.

Reinforcements

Rajin Saleh returned home early because of a back strain, and Khaled Mashud became vice-captain.

Paceman Tapash Baisya, not due to arrive until after the one-day series, flew in to in Sri Lanka on Tuesday 30 August because strike bowler Mashrafe Mortaza suffered a stress fracture in his lower back in the first match.

Tapash Baisya  then injured his ankle, so Talha Jubair was called up. Talha arrived on 11 September but he did not play. 

Tushar Imran was retained, although expected to return after the ODI series.

Fixtures/Results

§  one-day international

� not first-class

Time spent in Sri Lanka before First Test: 

  19 days

(24 August - 12 September)

Test appearances on tour

2  -    Aftab Ahmed,  Enamul Haque jr,  Habibul Bashar,  Javed Omar,  Khaled Mashud,  Mohammad Ashraful,  Mohammad Rafique,  Shahadat Hossain,  Shahriar Nafees,  Syed Rasel.

1  -   Nafees Iqbal, Tushar Imran.

0  -   Abdur Razzak,  Khaled Mahmud,  Manjural Islam Rana,  Mashrafe Mortaza,  Nazmul Hossain,  Rajin Saleh,  Talha Jubair,  Tapash Baishya. 

Match appearances

T  Test match

o  one-day international 

x other match 

∙  played for opposition

W won  L lost  D drawn

N no result   A abandoned 

u unknown result

Bangladesh’s six previous Test tour results:

in England 2005  (2 Tests)

- lost 0-2

 in West Indies 2004  (2 Tests)

- lost 0-1

 in Zimbabwe 2003-04  (2 Tests)

- lost 0-1

 in Pakistan 2003 (3 Tests)

- lost 0-3

 in Australia 2003  (2 Tests)

- lost 0-2

 in South Africa 2002-03  (2 Tests)

- lost 0-2

Highlights

•   Mohammad Rafique took 5 wickets for 114 in the first Test, a match in which he was fined 75% of his fee for having an argument in public.

•   There were only two individual fifties scored by Bangladesh : 84 for Bashar in the first Test and 51 for Shahriar in the second Test.

•  

Tour Summary

Return to Bangladesh

Colombo   Q  Dhaka

Rajin Saleh (back injury) returned first.  Mashrafe Mortaza and Tapash Baishya were sent home early on 10 September.

Habibul Bashar had to fly home briefly immediately after the 3rd ODI to visit his ailing mother.

The one-day players, Khaled Mahmud, Nazmul Hossain and Abdur Razzak, returned to Bangladesh before the first Test match but Tushar Imran remained with the team.

The team flew back to Dhaka’s Zia International Airport on a Thai Airways flight on Monday 26 September.

Coach Dav Whatmore stayed for a week with his family in Sri Lanka and Javed Omar was given leave to take a holiday in Bangkok.

Total time away from Bangladesh

    33days  

(24 August - 26 September)

Finances

Postscript