ACC Trophy: Kathmandu Chronicles (9 October 1998)

9 October 1998

ACC Trophy: Kathmandu Chronicles

From Al-Amin

Bangladesh skipper Aminul Islam is in need of another spin bowler in his team lately.

"I want one more spinner in the team before the semifinal. I will talk to my manager about it tonight and request him to fly in a tweaker as soon as possible," said Aminul after Bangladesh thumped down a 104-run victory on minnows Maldives.

Spinners so far dominated on the Kathmandu pitches. Bangladesh, who surprisingly opted to take only one specialist spinner, Mohammad Rafique, in Nepal, have had significant successes with their slow bowlers. Rafique along with the three part-time spinners - Aminul, Al-Shahriar and Javed Omar, captured 15 wickets in three matches compared to the nine of the pace bowlers.

Meanwhile, manager Enayet Hossain Siraj has finally come to his senses as he went on to express his solidarity with the demand of Bangladesh captain to bring another spinner, preferably left-armer Enamul Haq.

"This is a little bit complicated situation. I will have to talk to the organisers here before sending the SOS message to Dhaka," said Siraj, who is also the chairman of the selection committee in BCB (Bangladesh Cricket Board).

Vanquished sometimes return happier than victors.

Defeat did not dampen the spirit of Maldives cricketers today. The islanders, playing in the first-ever regional tournament, are happy to put up the fight they have wanted.

This was quite evident after their match against the tournament favourites Bangladesh. When the Bangladeshi players looked exhausted and most of them retired to the chairs, the Maldives cricketers were standing in a queue to take photographs with Gordon Greenidge, the celebrated West Indian coach of the defending champions.

While the Maldives cricketers were happily roaming around after their spirited show on the field, their coach Abid Ali stepped forward to take on the journalists with a beaming face.

"Did not we gave Bangladesh a little dog fight? I think with the limited resource of ours we have done remarkably well," said Abid, who himself has done a tremendous job in developing cricket in the tiny island nation.

Abid was however genuine in his claim as his bowlers could rock the 'strong' batting line-up of Bangladesh by taking 9 wickets for 206 runs.

Papua New Guinea set an example of non-sportsmansip as they have refused to play their last match against Maldives. They have opted to leave Nepal instead of featuring in their final encounter, much to the frustration of the organisers.

After successive defeats both PNG and Maldives have already confirmed their exits from the tournament. Asian Cricket Council (ACC) and the organisers are however yet to take any action against PNG.

Augasline, a class five student of the St. Xavier School, is a keen follower of Bangladesh cricket.

The kid is even ready to skip any Nepal match for the sake of watching Bangladesh in action.

"No, I won't be interested in Nepal match provided there is a Bangladesh one at the same time. I love to see them in action and this team has so far played much better than any other country," said Augasline, whose knowledge about Bangladesh cricket is quite surprising.

"They won the ICC Trophy in Malaysia," Augasline was heard of telling his friend sitting next to him.

Source :: The Bangladesh Daily Star (https://www.dailystarnews.com)