Sydney, Australia (BBN)-Bangladeshi players’ disappointment at the expulsion of truant paceman Al-Amin Hossain from their squad is trumped by the realisation that victory over Sri Lanka could fortify their hopes of reaching the World Cup quarter-finals.
Bowling coach Heath Streak, the now-retired Zimbabwe seamer, said getting points in their opening two matches, from their defeat of Afghanistan and wash-out against Australia, had given them a good platform to push for a top-four berth in pool A, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.
“We’re happy with the start that we’ve made. Obviously the guys would have loved to have played against Australia – it was the equivalent of not plating against Brazil in a (soccer) World Cup, you want to play – but obviously that one point there and the confidence we got out of the win against Afghanistan is a good thing for us,” Streak said on Tuesday at the MCG, as Bangladesh prepared for their day-night match on Thursday.
“There’s a lot in this game for us. If we can do well and perform and upset Sri Lanka … we know it gives us a very good chance of making the quarter-finals.
“All the boys are excited about the game. They know that there’s 160 million in Bangladesh who are wishing them the best … they respect that and are very focused to try and perform well.”
Bangladesh are awaiting the arrival of swing bowler Shafiul Islam, who on Monday was cleared by the International Cricket Council’s technical committee to join their squad as a replacement for Al-Amin, who was expelled for breaking the 10pm curfew last Thursday in Brisbane.
The substitution was unusual, as teams customarily have to provide evidence of injury to make a change to their 15-man squad.
An earlier exception was West Indies spinner Sunil Narine, who was withdrawn amid doubts about the legality of his bowling action.
While Al-Amin’s truancy was detected by the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit, team manager and board member Khaled Mahmum told ESPNcricinfo there were no integrity issues that led to the substitution, which was ratified by the World Cup technical committee led by ICC cricket operations chief Geoff Allardice.
Streak downplayed the prospect of any lingering impact from the departure of 25-year-old Al-Amin, who had been in line to face Sri Lanka due to his proficiency against left-handers.
“Obviously we’re disappointed that he’s had to go, but I think Shafiul is a very experienced campaigner … so it won’t affect us too much,” he said.
“Anyone would be sad to see a fellow teammate go, but they’re very focused, they’re very keen to continue their World Cup campaign.”
The only member of Bangladesh’s squad to have played at the MCG is all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, twice in the past 14 months as part of his two stints in the Big Bash League. Streak predicted that would be helpful.
“Obviously him coming out and playing for Melbourne (Renegades) was good for us … in him getting experience in the conditions and being able to impart that knowledge on to the rest of the team. Hopefully he can help us win a very important game.”
The past seven matches at the MCG have produced an average first-innings score of 290. Streak said their batsmen would have to adjust their game plan based on the long square boundaries.
“It’s a very hard ground to hit boundaries, but because of the size of it there’s a lot of twos and threes for the taking,” he said.
Streak said he was pleased that in their only match so far in the World Cup, against Afghanistan, that Taskin Ahmed had nudged 145km/h and Rubel Hossain had regularly passed 140km/h, on the basis fast-bowling speed “is something people don’t associate with Bangladesh”.
BBN/AI-25Feb15-12:40am (BST)