A sad day for Bangladesh cricket

Bangladesh cricket has lost a promising young cricketer. Tamim Bashir, a left-arm spinner from Khulna, died of cerebral malaria at a city clinic on Friday evening. He was 19.

Bashir, who had been training under the guidance of the Bangladesh Cricket Board's high performance unit, was admitted to the Red Crescent Holy Family Hospital in a critical condition on June 12.

His grieving father Farid Ahmed criticised the coaching staff of the high-performance unit after his son's death. "My son repeatedly told them that he was not feeling well last Wednesday. But they ignored his pleas and told him to carry on training," Farid told the Bangladesh Daily Star after the burial of his son.

However, this was denied by the coach, who told the paper: "I saw him batting, bowling and fielding on Wednesday [June 9]. He looked normal to me. I only got to know about his sickness through his brother on Friday, and I told him to stay away from any physical workouts before being recovered.

"It's a tragic loss and the circumstances under which he died are really pathetic. I sympathise with the family and his team-mates. If we had known we could have referred him to a BKSP doctor. But by the time we realised Bashir was critically ill he was in hospital."

Bashir was a regular player in the Khulna divisional team. He took 44 wickets and scored 593 runs in first-class cricket for them. He was also equally impressive in the recent Corporate Cricket League, playing for the semi-finalists GrameenPhone.

His performance in the national and corporate cricket leagues led to his earning a place in the Bangladesh Cricket Board's high-performance unit.