Bangladesh target semi-final place at ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup

Bangladesh coach Allister de Winter believes his side have a realistic chance of reaching the semi-finals of the ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka.

That might seem like a very bold claim to make given the Tigers have never even made the Super League stages in four previous attempts, let alone been among the top four sides.

But de Winter was happy to justify his belief when he spoke to reporters in Colombo on Tuesday, just five days before his side's opening match against New Zealand.

"This group (of players) has been together for seven months training solidly and in that period of time we have had a lot of competition," he said.

"That has allowed us to work on our simple but effective game-plan and we are happy with the way that has gone.

"We have performed well in competition and that has meant we have a high expectation of ourselves and the country also has high expectations of us now, and rightly so.

"We expect to, at best, make the Super League and if we can do that then we are confident we can reach the semi-finals," he added.

Anyone that takes a close look at Bangladesh's recent form will start to understand why de Winter is so upbeat in his assessment of his side's prospects.

They secured a creditable third place finish in last November's Afro-Asian U/19 Cup in Vishakapatnam, beating Pakistan during that tournament, and followed that with success in a tri-series against Sri Lanka and England at home.

As captain Mushfiqur Rahim said: "Our preparation and our game-plan is definitely super and that is why we feel we can do well in this tournament."

But before the side can dream of that semi-final spot or even a berth in the Super League, they first have to finish in the top two places in Group A and that will be easier said than done.

It is one of the two groups (along with Group B) that includes three Test-playing teams and Pakistan and New Zealand, let alone Associate side Uganda, are not going to roll over and die just because Bangladesh are feeling confident.

"Every match will be tough for us," said de Winter. "And that first match against New Zealand (on 5 February) is the one that really matters to us.

"We know a little about Pakistan having played them in the Afro-Asian U/19 Cup but we know nothing about New Zealand and we will be making efforts over the next few days to make sure we gather a bit of information on them.

"Uganda are also in our group and they will provide a different challenge for us."

Bangladesh arrived in Colombo after a training camp that included two one-day matches against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) national side which were won by the impressive margins of six wickets and 95 runs.

There were half-centuries for Rahim, Md Shamsur Rahman, Sirajullah Khadem and Sakib Al Hasan (who made 87 from 71 balls in the first match) as well as wickets for most of the bowlers.

On that basis it is, perhaps, no wonder that de Winter is content with his side's build-up.

"I am confident we can pick any (combination) of our 14 players on any given day and play very good cricket," he said.

"Everyone is fine, we have had a few days to rest and recuperate (after the UAE matches) and now we are ready to go."

Bangladesh's Group A matches are against New Zealand (February 5), Pakistan (February 8) and Uganda (February 9).

The top two sides from each of the four groups in the tournament will progress to the Super League stage, which consists of knock-out quarter- and semi-finals and a final on 19 February.

The Bangladesh squad is: , Mushfiqur Rahim (captain), Mehrab Hossain (vice-captain), Nabil Samad Chowdhury, Sakib Al Hasan, Roqibul Hassan, Kazi Kamrul Islam, Rezaul Islam, Sirajullah Khadem, Tamim Iqbal Khan, Dollar Mahmud, Md Shamsur Rahman, Md Sohrawardi, Mehedi Hasan Siddiqui and Ishraq Sonnet.

Manager - Golam Mohamed Nowsher, coach - Allister de Winter, assistant coach - Abedeen Nazmul.

The ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup 2006 will take place between February 5 and 19. 16 teams are scheduled to play 44 matches in 15 days at five different venues in Colombo.