BCB makes peace offering to Heera

Former national captain Shafiqul Haque Heera has been reunited with the Bangladesh Cricket Board in the capacity of national team manager, ending a year-long bitter relationship.
The BCB on Monday appointed him the manager operations of the national cricket team for one year effective from the upcoming tour of Pakistan, where Bangladesh will play five one-day matches and a Twenty20 international from April 8 to 20.
The former wicketkeeper was shown the door by the BCB last April after serving seven years as the deputy director of development and the venue director of the Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium. He was one of the representatives of the BCB at the host submission meetings of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.
He was widely tipped for a return to the BCB as permanent manager of the national team prior to the home series against South Africa, but some officials blocked it mysteriously, souring his relationship with the cricket oversight body further.
Heera was interviewed for one post of permanent manager on January 13, but the BCB cancelled it on the pretext of having insufficient number of candidates. Only two candidates appeared for the post paving the way for the BCB to take the decision.
They instead appointed former national cricketer Omar Khaled Rumi as the manager for the South Africa and Ireland series. The former leg-spinner left the BCB red-faced by making an incoherent speech during the official dinner of the South Africa series that also made his future uncertain.
Heera was called back into the BCB on Monday for a renegotiation and after an hour-long meeting with Gazi Ashraf Hossain, the chairman cricket operations committee, his appointment was announced.
His one-year term also includes a tri-nation in Dhaka and the Asia Cup in June, Australia tour in September, home series against New Zealand in October, South Africa tour in November and the home series against Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and West Indies up to April next year.
Its a new challenge for me. I will try to support the young team as well as the team management to the best of my ability, said Heera, who captained Bangladesh in the 1979 and 1982 ICC Trophy.
As the team operations manager my focus will be on overseeing that the practice sessions are well-organised and the players feel comfortable while traveling at home and away,said Heera.
This will be his sixth stint as the national manager as he held the post in different tournaments, home and away series since 1988. The last time he served as the national team manager was during the Zimbabwe and Kenya tour in 2006.

SA to Attack Bangladesh in 2nd Test

After a rude awakening in the opening Test, South Africa will be looking for a more reassuring performance when they meet Bangladesh in the second and final match starting Friday.
Though the South Africans won the opener in Dhaka by a five-wicket margin and nearly two days to spare, they conceded a first innings lead to their under-rated rivals and largely looked out of sorts while batting.
To the credit of the hosts, they gave it their all but lacked the killer punch that could have upstaged their mighty opponents.
Paceman Shahadat Hossain impressed the most among the bowlers with a nine-wicket match haul while young opener Junaid Siddique also showed he had the temperament to succeed at the highest level.
The South African batting looked in disarray with only skipper Graeme Smith managing a half-century in either innings.
The way some of the South African batters lost their wicket smacked of over-confidence although they did make amends somewhat in reaching the 205-run target, their highest successful run chase in the sub-continent. Smith admitted the game had served as a wake-up call for his team which was still trying to come to terms with the conditions.
After three months of playing at home, in a different style, using a certain game plan, this was a big wake-up call, he said.
I am glad the normal Test team is here so we can realise again how tough it is to play here.
Our style of playing we were brought up on has turned from day to night here. You need a whole different technique as a batsman, as a bowler, in your thinking method and in these ways you get people out. It all changes.
We have to start working harder. If we can last in these conditions, we will be well prepared when we go to India, Smith added.
The Proteas will once again be distracted by the selection row that marred the build-up to this series with talks about a disciplinary hearing involving board president Norman Arendse being held over the weekend back home.
There was also speculation that some of the players, including Smith, would return home after the Test for a short break ahead of the three-Test series against India.
However media manager Michael Owen Smith told AFP a decision was yet to be taken on their departure.
For Bangladesh, the chief worry is the form of wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim and veteran batsman Habibul Bashar.
While Bashar, already axed from the one-day side, looks likely to make way for a youngster in the batting line up, Rahim may be persisted with because of the faith of coach Jamie Siddons in his abilities. The Test will be followed by three one-dayers.

Bowlers Fighting For Bangladesh

The Bangladesh batsmen have only themselves to blame for yet another erratic display, but the bowlers raised unlikely hopes of taking a first innings lead after the end of first day in the Warid first Test against South Africa on Friday.
Having managed a meagre total of 192 runs, the bowlers reduced South Africa 76-4, giving coach Jamie Siddons and captain Mohammad Ashraful something to tell in the post-day press conference.
I think we gave away a pretty good opportunity to put South Africa in a spot of trouble. Batting first in our condition, our wicket, we should have done a lot better. I am disappointed but still we have some hope out there. We fought our way back and we are still in the match, said Siddons.
Everyone saw a massive improvement in our batsmen but then they played a shot for no reason like Ashraful and Aftab did.
Aftab and Ashraful top scored for Bangladesh in the first innings with 44 and 34 respectively but both of them had their share of blame for spoiling a good start with careless shots.
Aftab put together 70 runs for the sixth wicket with Sakib al Hasan to help the Tigers go past 150 in their first innings for the first time in seven Tests after South African seamers left the hosts tottering at 82-5 before lunch.
He lofted a catch to Makhaya Ntini at mid-off off Johan Botha when the batsman looked set for a big score. The same bowler had earlier scalped Ashraful with only in his fifth ball of the match.
After hitting the spinner for two consecutive fours, Ashraful went for another big shot only to give a low return catch that ended stroke-filled innings of 34 that came off only 27 balls.
Quite a few of us like me Aftab, Shahriar, Sakib got a start in the innings but we could not carry on. If anyone of us could have made at least 70, we could have easily gone past 250, lamented Ashraful.
However, we still have a chance because our bowlers did so well. If we can restrict them to a minimal score tomorrow (Saturday), we could still have some competition.
South Africa set out to score 300 runs in the first innings but they lost Graeme Smith (10), Neil McKenzie (5), Hashim Amla (25) and Jacques Kallis (17) in less than two hours.
I am really happy at the way we bowled. You know, we have talked a lot after the warm-up game, about the game plan, about the reverse swing, about bowling to left-handers, said coach Mickey Arthur.
I am slightly disappointed with the batting at the moment, but we still have six wickets in hand and obviously we can squeeze our way to 300, said Arthur.
Wickets in the subcontinent are not like the ones we are used to have in South Africa. So, we know, whatever we do, we have to it in the first innings. It may not be very easy to bat here in the fourth innings, added Arthur.

South Africa Ready to Face Bangla Tigers

The Mirpur pitch takes many forms' is the statement that came from none other than ace Bangladesh left-arm spinner Mohammad Rafique.

There has been a debate on whether there is any point to talk too much about the pitch conditions when the batting of the Tigers is the main concern, but many still believe that the character of the surface can delude the South Africans.

Many even believe that it would be an interesting Test if the Bangladesh batsmen could manage to put some runs on the board.

But Rafique, who will bid bye to international cricket after the series, believes that the unpredictable nature of Mirpur pitch can boomerang against the home batsmen despite the fact that they have played a number of practice matches here.

"You can't say when it will start to produce bounce or start keeping low," said the experienced spinner, who along with his two fellow left-arm spinners is set to play a vital role in the Test.

South African skipper Graeme Smith was so curious about the pitch at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium that he even pulled off the covers during the practice session yesterday. He however was very much aware of the character of pitches on the subcontinent and remained optimistic about continuing their recent success.

"I think that few of the bowlers have put me under pressure already. From what we know, the wickets here don't really look good. We will have a lot of hard work to do in five days," the left-hander admitted at a press conference at the stadium yesterday.

"We have had a good chat this morning. We have learnt quite a lot from the warm-up game [at Fatullah]. Obviously we have got good confidence having won in Pakistan and It's also not so long ago," he added.

Despite Bangladesh's poor performance in the longer-version game, the well-built South African skipper said that it would be a challenge for them to take on the Tigers in their own den.

"But again, it's going to be a unique challenge here. And I think respecting the Bangladesh team is key. We have got to give them what they deserve. I think the subcontinent poses a great challenge because you really have to earn every win here," he said.

Smith was also a little bothered with his team's performance in the three-day match, but he hardly had any doubt about his team's success like he did in 2003 in his first tour as a captain.

"We used that match (practice) to get as much knowledge about the conditions as we could. We are just gathering as much information as possible. You know Bangladesh is not a team that we play often. We don't know many of the players as well, so for us it is about gaining as much information as possible," he observed.

He also spoke about his captaincy.

"I never dreamt of becoming South Africa's leading Test captain. Certainly it is a great honour and a wonderful achievement, I am proud of it," said the left-hander who took over the reins in 2003 at the age of 22 to become South Africa's youngest-ever captain following a disastrous World Cup campaign under Shaun Pollock