England and Zimbabwe first to arrive for Dhaka Cup (19 October 1998)

19 October 1998

England and Zimbabwe first to arrive for Dhaka Cup

By Hasan Saeed

DHAKA, Oct 18: England and Zimbabwe were the first two teams to arrive today to participate in the 9-nation International Cup to be played Oct 24-Nov 2.

A 17-member Zimbabwe team, led by Alistair Campbell, arrived in the morning while the 18-member England, led by Adam Hollioake, in the evening. England, in their first appearance in Bangladesh, are determined to play all the three matches to win the Cup.

"Our mission is very clear and that is clinching the trophy," said England's one-day captain Adam Hollioake addressing a press conference at a local hotel soon after arrival.

He said there is no reason for them "not to lift the first ever knock-out trophy" as almost the same specialised one-day team won in Sharjah.

England will play two practice matches against New Zealand and Bangladesh before they take on South Africa on Oct 25.

Zimbabwe, which will take on New Zealand in the inaugural match (pre-quarterfinal) on Oct 24, are in high spirits after beating India in a one off test and confident of playing quarter final beating the Kiwis.

"All our players are highly confident to beat New Zealand following our last 18 months' good performance and the recent win against India," said Zimbabwean skipper Alistair Campbell, a hard-hitting batsman.

Addressing a press conference, he said : We consider ourselves still at the bottom of the cricketing world, but we have the ability to do better as we defeated Pakistan and India in last one and a half year."

Source :: Dawn (https://dawn.com/)