Two Changes in Cricket squad For Ireland Series

The experiment with the Bangladesh cricket team seems to be continuing as the selectors made two changes in the national squad for the three-match one-day series against Ireland.
Surprisingly, two bowlers Syed Rasel and Mosharraf Hossain had to pay the price for the failures of the batsmen, who made a mess in the just-concluded three-match ODI series against South Africa.
Middle-order batsman Aftab Ahmed and all-rounder Mahmudullah Riyad replaced them in the 14-member squad announced on Saturday at a city hotel.
Aftab is one of our main batsmen in the middle-order. We could not include him against South Africa because of injury. Now he has been declared fit, so we recalled him, said chief selector Rafiqul Alam.
Instead of any under-performing batsmen, the selectors jettisoned medium pacer Rasel to make room for Aftab.
He (Aftab) is also a useful medium pacer, which we think can prove handy for Ireland. So we thought he can easily take the place of Rasel, said the chief selector.
The team has a certain gameplan for which we think there is no need to play three pacers. We already have Mashrafee (bin Murtaza) and Shahadat (Hosasin), he said.
We axed Mosharraf because he could not impress against South Africa. Riyad (Mahmudullah) came in his place, Rafiqul said.
Unlike Mosharraf he is an off-spinner, which we think will give our attack some variation. We also felt the need of an off-spinner as Ireland have seven left-handed players. He is also a better batsman, he added.
The three-match series will start with the first game on March 18 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium. The remaining two matches will also be held at the same venue on March 20 and 22.
Squad: Mohammad Ashraful, Mashrafee bin Murtaza, Tamim Iqbal, Junaed Siddique, Aftab Ahmed, Nazimuddin, Shahriar Nafees, Sakib al Hasan, Dhiman Ghosh, Abdur Razzak, Shahadat Hossain, Mahmudullah Riyad, Farhad Reza and Roqibul Hassan.

Ireland arrive in Dhaka

Less than twelve hours after South Africa cricket team left Dhaka after whitewashing Bangladesh in both Test and one-day series, Ireland arrived in the city on Saturday to play three one-day matches against the hosts.
The 15-member Ireland team, led by all-rounder Trent Johnston, will play the first match of the series against Bangladesh at the Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on March 18.
Ireland are ranked just behind Bangladesh in the one-day charts and also defeated the Tigers in last years World Cup, which gave an added value to the series that has been deemed trivial otherwise.
We have come here to play good cricket and we are confident that we can do it. It would be nice if we can cause another upset like the World Cup, skipper Johnston told reporters at the airport.
We know the pitches will be low and slow here. But we are prepared for it. We have a couple of good spinners who can exploit the slow nature of the wicket. They also showed form in the last few weeks, he added.
The Ireland squad has only eight players Trent Johnston, Kyle McCallan, Andre Botha, David Langford-Smith, Eoin Morgan, Kevin OBrien, Niall OBrien and William Porterfield who played against Bangladesh in the World Cup.
Of them, Porterfield, the vice-captain of the side, was the architect of Irelands 74-run win over Bangladesh having scored 85 off 136 balls.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board will earn at least Tk 34 lakh from the series. Of the money, title sponsor Ispahani Mirzapore Tea will provide Tk 18 lakh while the rest of the amount will be coming from the fields perimeter billboards.
It was revealed at a press conference on Saturday. BCB members Shafiqur Rahman and Ishtiaque Ahmad and Mirza Ali Behrouze Ispahani, the chairman of Ispahani Group, spoke, among others, at the press conference.
Squad: Trent Johnston (captain), William Porterfield (vice-captain), Kyle McCallan, Kevin Brien, Niall OBrien, Andre Botha, Alex Cusack, Reinhardt Strydom, Thinus Fourie, Gary Kidd, Greg Thompson, Eoin Morgan, Paul Stirling, David Langford-Smith and Phil Eaglestone.