Bangladesh PM talking cricket in Australia

For the first time a Bangladeshi Prime Minister is going to visit Australia. And cricket is also an agenda likely to be discussed.

On a five-day official visit Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina leaves Dhaka for Australia on Sunday midnight. Apart from economic issues, officials said, cricket could also come up for discussion.

They said the Australian government may moot a specific proposal in the field of cricket. Australia is interested in providing scholarship for the development of cricket in Bangladesh, the officials both at Bangladesh Foreign Ministry and Australian High Commission in Dhaka said.

In a statement ahead of the visit of Bangladesh Premier, Australian Prime Minister John Howard also mentioned the two nations' affection to cricket.

"... Of course, our two countries also shared a love of cricket," he said in the statement issued on Saturday.

A good number of Bangladeshi cricketers have already took training in Australia. Cricket organisers in Dhaka hope that the opportunity of training will be increased further following the visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Recently two young cricketers returned home from Australia after taking training in the Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy in Adelaide. The cricketers -- Bikash Ranjan Das and Imran Ahmed -- took the eight-week training under a cricket cooperation and development programme of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and Australian High Commission in Dhaka.

Five more Bangladeshi cricketers -- national skipper Aminul Islam Bulbul, M Hassanuzzaman, Hannan Sarkar, Sabbir Khan and Mushfiqur Rahman Babu -- also obtained training in the academy in previous years.

The Australian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Robert Flynn accorded a reception to the Aussie-trained local cricketers on October 14.

The training programme, jointly organised and funded by BCB and the Australian government was introduced for Bangladesh under the Australian-Asia Sports Linkage Programme in 1997.

The programme was launched following an announcement by former Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade Tim Fischer. He made the announcement in Dhaka while visiting Bangladesh and found the nation as very crazy for cricket.

Legendary Australian cricketer and head coach of the Adelaide Academy Rod Marsh, former test wicketkeeper-cum-batsman Wayne Pillips, former renowned cricketers Dennis Lillee, Ian Chappell and Ashley Mallett provide expert coaching in the academy in Adelaide.

The Adelaide Cricket Academy was established in 1987 under the initiative of Australian Institute of Sports in collaboration with the Australian Cricket Board to impart expert training to cricketers.