Mahmud: 'We are not scared or nervous'

Khaled Mahmud, the Bangladesh captain, put on a brave front as his 15-man squad left for a daunting one-month tour of Australia. Claiming that the preparations under Dav Whatmore, the new coach, had been "better and different from what we have had before", Mahmud said: "Australia will be tough opponents. But we are not scared or nervous as we have already faced some of the world's best teams, like South Africa." Bangladesh will reach Australia more than three weeks before their first international match, in an effort to familiarise themselves with the local conditions.

Bangladesh haven't won an international match in four years, a fact that wasn't lost on their captain. "We hope to show our improvements on the field. We also want to dispel the international criticisms against Bangladesh." Ehsan Mani, the new president of the International Cricket Council (ICC), had sounded a warning to Bangladesh last week, saying that the country's international commitments would be reduced.

Bangladesh will play two Tests and three one-day internationals, with the first Test starting from July 18 at Darwin.

Squad
Khaled Mahmud (capt), Javed Omar, Khaled Mashud (wk), Habibul Bashar, Mohammad Rafique, Hannan Sarkar, Mohammad Ashraful, Al Shahriar, Manjurul Islam, Alok Kapali, Sanwar Hossain, Tarek Aziz Khan, Mashrafee-bin-Murtaza, Tapash Baishya, Anwar Hossain Monir.