**Official Bangladesh Domestic Cricket**

[Jungle Jumbo]

How have the Bangledeshi Public taken to the twenty20 games?

Haven't seen anything in the press about it. I've no idea how many people attend the normal DPL games, but I think that they're more popular than the National League matches.

 

[cricman]

Most entertaining game of the 20/20 league took place yesterday with Mohammedan beating Sonargaon by 9 runs.

Mohammedan Vs Sonargaon
Mohammedan 226/4 Over -20 Junaed 134, Faisal 39*; Sharif 2/49
Sonargaon 217/7 Over -20 Ashraful 104, Sharif 46; Tapash 5/29
Mohammedan won by 9 runs (KAI ALTECH Premier Division Twenty20 League; Venue-DCS; MOM -Junaed)

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Sonargaon 217/7 Tapash 5/29

The other bowlers 2/180-odd off 16 overs? Good going!

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

Sunday December 24

Group B - 9AM start

DCS: Mohammedan (4-0) beat Abahani (3-1) by 9 runs
Mohammedan 115-9 (20)
Imtiaz Hossain 12, Aftab Ahmed 66; Mashrafe Mortaza 4-18, Manjural Islam Rana 2-18
Abahani 106-9 (20)
Nazmus Sadat 16, Nazimudin 26, Tushar Imran 20, Manjural Islam Rana 10, Khaled Mashud 15*; Tapash Baisya 2-26. Saqibul Hasan 3-17

Khaled Mashud was in slow-go mood again for Abahani - 15 from 16 balls.

Fatullah: Sonargaon (2-2) beat Brothers Union (2-2) by 4 wickets
Brothers 120-9 (20)
Shahriar Hossain 40, Hannan Sarkar 21, Humayun Kabir 45; Alok Kapali 2-28, Mohammad Rafique 2-15, Mohammad Sharif 3-31
Sonargaon 121-6 (19.5)
Al Sahariar 23, Alok Kapali 56; Tapash Ghosh 3-19

BKSP-2: Young Pegasus (1-3) beat Indira Road (0-4) by 50 runs
Young Pegasus 163-8 (20)
Karim 32, Delwar 33*; Manwar 2-32, Saiful Islam 2-26
Indira Road 113-6 (20)
Rasel 41, Mehdi Hasan 20; Delwar 2-7, Kamal 2-26

Group A - 1PM start

BKSP-2: Old DOHS (4-0) beat Biman (2-2) by 3 wickets
Biman 127-5 (20)
Raqibul Hasan 45, Javed Omar 36; Shahadat Hossain 3-15
Old DOHS 128-7 (19.2)
Nadif Chowdhury 51, Mehrab Hossain jnr 25; Mushfiqur Rahman 4-38

A fourth straight win put DOHS in the semis.

Fatullah: Victoria (4-0) beat City Club (2-2) by 30 runs
Victoria 166-8 (20)
Golam Mabyd 52, Nasiruddin 37, Hasanuzzaman 24, Nazmul Hossain Milon 20; Kamrul Islam 3-32, Ishraq Sonet 2-37
City Club 136-9 (20)
Gazi Salahuddin 39, Shahriar Nafees 10, Nipu 22, Tareq Aziz 21; Waseluddin Ahmed 2-30, Sajid 2-31

Kamrul Islam's 3-32 including a hat-trick. Victoria sealed a semi-final place.

DCS: Partex (1-3) beat Kalabagan (0-4) by 6 wickets
Kalabagan 147-6 (20)
Nahidul Haque 55, Arafat Salahuddin 34*; Mohammad Azim 3-22
Partex 151-4 (20)
Rajin Saleh 29, Arifur Rahman 46, Tariq Ahmed 48

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

Group A - 9AM start

DCS: Old DOHS (5-0) beat Victoria (4-1) by 3 wickets
Victoria 137-8 (20)
Mahmudullah Riyad 64*, Waseluddin Ahmed 22; Shahadat Hossain 2-29, Abdur Razzak 4-12
Old DOHS 139-7 (18.5)
Ehsanul Haque 39, Khaled Mahmud 45, Abdur Razzak 22; Shuvro 3-16

BKSP: City Club (3-2) beat Kalabagan (0-5) by 9 runs
City Club 160-5 (20)
Gazi Salahuddin 47, Sajjadul Hasan 53, Mushtaq 34; Ishtiaq Sader 2-40
Kalabagan 151 (19.5)
Uttam Sarkar 59, Salahuddin Ahmed 23; Tariq Aziz 2-34, Ishraq Sonet 3-24, Farid Hossain 2-15

Fatullah: Biman (3-2) beat Partex (1-4) by 66 runs
Biman 178-4 (20)
Farhad Reza 79, Mushfiqur Rahman 27, Hasanuzzaman 29*
Partex 112-7 (20)
Rajin Saleh 43, Mizanur 24

Group B - 1PM start

DCS: Mohammedan (5-0) beat Sonargaon (2-3) by 9 runs
Mohammedan 226-4 (20)
Imtiaz Hossain 12, Junaid Siddique 134, Aftab Ahmed 18, Faisal Hossain 39*; Mohammad Sharif 2-49
Sonargaon 217-7 (20)
Alok Kapali 14, Mohammad Ashraful 104, Marshall Ayub 20, Mohammad Rafique 16, Mohammad Sharif 46; Tapash Baisya 5-29, Aftab Ahmed 2-50

19-year-old Junaid Siddique Imrose's 134 came from just 64 balls and included four fours and an astonishing 11 sixes, surpassing Atula Samarasekara's 14-year-old record for the most sixes hit in a single innings on Bangladeshi soil, incidentally against Mohammedan for Abahani in a DPL game in 1992. Ashraful then answered with 104 from 47 balls, with fifteen fours and three sixes. Both Hasibul Hossain and Rezaul Islam disappeared for 28-run overs. He received support from Mohammad Sharif, who hit 46 from 25 balls. However, Ashraful lost his cool following a heated debate with the umpires regarding the subsitute fielder who was replacing the uninjured Junaid and holed out with 16 balls remaining and 32 required. He was fined Tk 5,000 for his offence.
Fatullah: Abahani (4-1) beat Indira Road (0-5) by 90 runs
Abahani 173-6 (20)
Nazmus Sadat 38, Khaled Mashud 28*, Mashrafe Mortaza 65
Indira Road 83-6 (20)
Golam Mawla 42*, Moniruzzaman 21; Mashrafe Mortaza 5-5

Mashrafe smashed a 23-ball 65 (4x4, 7x6) before taking 5-5 from his four overs.

BKSP: Brothers Union (3-2) beat Young Pegasus (1-4) by 24 runs
Brothers 132-9 (20)
Imran Ahmed 35, Abul Bashar 23, Anisur Rahman 39; Saif Mahmud 3-15
Young Pegasus 108 (18.5)
Asif 28, Rabiul 29; Saju Dutta 3-17

Semi-Finals, at Mirpur on December 27:

Old DOHS v Abahani
Mohammedan v Victoria

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

Semi-Finals

Mirpur: Old DOHS beat Abahani by 5 wickets
Abahani 74 (18.5)
Nazmus Sadat 16, Nazimuddin 12, Khaled Mashud 10, Ziaur Rahman 11*; Khaled Mahmud 4-17, Shahadat Hossain 1-15, Nazmul Hossain 1-19, Abdur Razzak 1-11, Dollar Mahmud 1-11
Old DOHS 77-5 (18.2)
Tamim Iqbal 16, Ehsanul Haque 10, Nadif Chowdhury 14, Khaled Mahmud 23*; Ziaur Rahman 1-13, Mohammad Shahzada 1-14, Manjural Islam Rana 1-16, Suhrawadi Shuvo 1-21

A combination of a green wicket and heavy fog saw low totals in both semi-finals, but Abahani were the biggest victim of the conditions as they could only muster 74, a total that was never going to cause DOHS any problems regardless of the weather. Shahadat and Nazmul both bowled maidens for DOHS, but it was the veteran Mahmud who did the damage by removing the Abahani top three. After a brief stumble in the middle of their innings, where three wickets fell for just nine runs, Mahmud kept a cool head to thrust DOHS into the final.

Mirpur: Mohammedan beat Victoria by 7 wickets
Victoria 116-5 (20)
Nasiruddin Faruque 41, Mahmudullah Riyad 34, Waseluddin Ahmed 13*; Manjural Islam Moni 1-16, Hasibul Hossain 2-20, Arafat Sunny 1-22
Mohammedan 119-3 (16.4)
Imtiaz Hossain 31, Aftab Ahmed 57*, Habibul Bashar 18; Sawnawaz Shuvro 2-13, Nazmul Hossain Milon 1-23

After losing Junaid Siddique for a first-ball duck, Imtiaz Hossain and Aftab Ahmed settled the tie with an assault on a weak Victoria seam attack to put Mohammedan in the final. Imtiaz hit 31 from 20 balls, with five fours and a six; Aftab smashed 57 from 51 with three fours and as many maximums. Earlier, the experience of Manjurul, Tapash and Hasibul with the new ball constrained the Victoria batsmen, although Nasiruddin and Mahmudullah again demonstrated their good form.

 

[James90]

That's insane. Mashrafe and Ashraful dominating.

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

Mirpur: Mohammedan beat Old DOHS by 24 runs
Mohammedan 184-5 (20)
Imtiaz Hossain 82, Junnaid Siddique 61, Aftab Ahmed 25*; Abdur Razzak 3-27
Old DOHS* 160-6 (20)
Tamim Iqbal 46, Mehrab Hossain jnr 33, Nadif Chowdhury 23, Abdur Razzak 18, Khaled Mahmud 15; Arafat Sunny 3-32, Aftab Ahmed 2-11

Mohammedan SC, traditionally the strongest of the DPL sides, ran out comfortable winners in the inaugural Twenty20 final. After being asked to bat first by DOHS' captain Akram Khan in Mirpur, openers Imtiaz Hossain and Junnaid Siddique piled on 134 in just 12.3 overs. Junnaid followed up his group stage hundred with 61 from 34 balls, including eight boundaries and two sixes, but was overshadowed by his senior partner, who smashed 82 from 50 balls, with eight fours and a couple of maximums. A quickire 25-ball 20 from Aftab Ahmed pushed Mohammedan's total to 184. DOHS began well in reply, with Tamim Iqbal striking 46 from 36 balls and fellow opener Mehrab Hossain jnr adding a run-a-ball 33. The turning point came however when the big-hitting Nadif Chowdhury, who had raced to 23 from 10 balls, fell to Arafat Sunny and DOHS' were left with an impossible task. Junnaid Siddique was named man of the series, while Imtiaz Hossain was given the man of the match award.

 

[Miraz]

Good performance by young Zunaed and Imtiaz in the final of twenty20 league.

I expected a DOHS win. Anyway, Mohammedan deserved to win.

Jumbo, Now we need a review for domestic season for 2006.

I think you will be quite prompt in doing that.

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

Good performance by young Zunaed and Imtiaz in the final of twenty20 league.

I expected a DOHS win. Anyway, Mohammedan deserved to win.

Jumbo, Now we need a review for domestic season for 2006.

I think you will be quite prompt in doing that.

Not really: the NCL is only half complete (and I reviewed that anyway), the DPL proper is yet to start and there is little detail that I can add to what is there. I'll knock something up when the whole thing is over.

DPL starts January 10 I think, after the Eid break.

Hakon, Neil, anyone else interested: no reply from the BCB yet. As expected.

 

[Tomm NCCC]

If only Ahsraful could be so consistent for the Bangledeshi National team,

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

There's been a bit of news regarding the upcoming Dhaka Premier League today. As I have mentioned before, the competition kicks off on January 10 (Wednesday), but it appears that the national stars will be missing for a large proportion of it. Bangladesh leave to tour Zimbabwe on January 31, giving them time to play in just six of the scheduled eleven rounds in the main group stage. Apparently the Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis (CCDM) did not know about the tour until recently, despite the BCB announcing that they had been offered the tour as long as six months ago.

There will be three matches on consecutive days, with a gap after each round. Four venues will be used: Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur; Dhanmondi Cricket Stadiuma; BKSP and Fatullah Cricket Stadium.

Round One Fixtures

January 10
Old DOHS v Young Pegasus (Mirpur)
Sonargaon v Partex (Fatullah)
Victoria v Indira Road (BKSP)

January 11
Mohammedan v Kalabagan (Fatullah)
Biman v Abahani (BKSP)
Brothers Union v City Club (DCS)

 

[cricman]

DPL won't be as exciting this year, due to World Cup Preperations from all international teams normally by the time of the Semi Finals and Finals the Clubs would sign international stars such as Jayasuriya and Sangakarra. Maybe if Yardy or Prior would want to play it be a good experience for them.

 

[Efaz]

Partial Fixture for DPL-

Second round matches:
January 13 - Old DOHS SC vs Partex SC (at NOS), Indira Road KC vs Young Pegasus (DCS), Sonargaon Cricketers vs Kalabaghan KC (BKSP ground-2).
January 14 - Victoria SC vs Abahani Limited (BKSP-2), Mohammedan SC vs City Club (SBNS) and Biman Bangladesh Airlines vs Brothers Union Club (NOS).

Third round matches:
Jan. 16 - Old DOHS SC vs Indira Road KC (BKSP-2), Partex SC vs Kalabagan KC (NOS) and Young Pegasus vs Abahani Limited (DCS).
January 17 - Sonargaon Cricketers vs City Club (NOS), Victoria SC vs Brothers Union Club (BKSP-2) and Mohammedan SC vs Biman Bangladesh Airlines (SBNS).

Fourth round matches
January 19 - Old DOHS vs Kalabaghan KC (NOS), Indira Road KC vs Abahani Limited (SBNS) and Partex SC vs City Club (BKSP-2).
January 20 - Young Pegasus vs Brothers Union Club (DCS), Sonargaon Cricketers vs Biman Bangladesh Airlines (NOS) and Victoria SC vs Mohammedan SC (BKSP-2).

- Financial Express

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

Cheers, couldn't find those anywhere yesterday.

 

[Efaz]

National team players are supposed to play in the league until the sixth round, before they leave for Zimbabwe. But, with so many youngsters coming up, I think they won't be missed that badly. Only worry is that whether the political situation in Bangladesh will be suitable to continue the league beyond the national election date i.e. 22nd of January (although, in all likely hood. the date will be deferred).

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

National team players are supposed to play in the league until the sixth round, before they leave for Zimbabwe. But, with so many youngsters coming up, I think they won't be missed that badly. Only worry is that whether the political situation in Bangladesh will be suitable to continue the league beyond the national election date i.e. 22nd of January (although, in all likely hood. the date will be deferred).

Could the situation get that bad? I thought it had been mostly peaceful so far. Presumably if the Awami League fail to gain power, there will be trouble.

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

From The New Age:

Modest foreigners upset clubs
Azad Majumder

Top cricket clubs in Dhaka are frustrated at not getting any quality foreign players for the upcoming Dhaka Premier League, scheduled to begin on January 10 with three matches on the opening day.

The Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis has allowed the clubs to field one foreign cricketer in each match against the registration of a maximum of three players, but no club could confirm any big name yet.

In their quest for a hat-trick championship, holders Old DOHS had been in talks with Sri Lankan Test cricketers Russel Arnold and Thilan Samaraweera only to be refused in the end.

‘We were desperately trying to rope in either of them. But it seems that they are not coming. They are in the World Cup provisional squad of Sri Lanka and thus are more interested to play their own league to remain before the eyes of the selectors,’ said DOHS official Saiful Islam.

‘We now entrusted our Sri Lankan coach Premlal Fernando with the task of contacting a junior player and hopefully he will give us good news upon his arrival in Dhaka on Sunday,’ said Saiful.

Abahani, one of the major challengers of DOHS, are also in quagmire over the selection of foreign players, who will be crucial for their team set-up. Club official Gazi Ashraf Hossain Lipu said they initially made contact with former Pakistani Test cricketer Amir Abbas, but later dropped him from their plan.

‘He played only two Tests for Pakistan. We found his performance was upto our requirements. We are now in negotiation with several others, but they are also not very high-profile players. I can’t really tell you whom we will bring in finally,’ said the former national captain.

‘It’s really difficult to get a quality foreign player at this moment. With the exception of England, our domestic season clashes with all Test-playing nations. Naturally, the top players do not want to come here,’ said Abahani official Ahmed Sazzadul Alam.

‘We mainly hire cricketers from Pakistan. But for the last few years it became very tough to get their top players after the Pakistan Cricket Board formed a pool of around 40 cricketers making it mandatory for them to play in the domestic cricket competitions,’ said Jahandar Rashid, the cricket secretary of the City Club.

‘And Pakistan’s main domestic tournament, Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, is now a very protracted affair like India’s Ranji trophy games. Moreover, this year it is going to start in the same week as our Premier League,’ he said.

City Club, who brought former Zimbabwean captain Tatenda Taibu last year, this time recruited Pakistan’s Waseem Naeem.

Things are no better for Twenty20 champions Mohammedan Sporting Club, who were almost sure to get Indian cricketer Sandeep Sharma. But the player now informed the club that it would not be possible for him to come to Dhaka before January 15 due to his domestic commitment.

Having no other options, Mohammedan are now looking for an Indian Under-19 player for the first few matches. Reigning runners-up Sonargaon Cricketers are chasing their old faithful Sridharan Sriram, but they are yet to get his final consent.

Like Sonargaon, a few other clubs are also going to rely on their old guards. Bangladesh Biman confirmed the services of Jahoor Elhai while Victoria roped in Jafar Kureshi. Rashed Hanif will play for Partex while Brothers Union enlisted Fahadullah.

All of these players may be very common faces in Bangladesh’s domestic cricket, but no one is that high-profile cricketer like Sanath Jayasuraia and Kumar Sangakkara, who played in the last Corporate Cricket League for Beximco and Acme Laboratories respectively.

 

[Efaz]

I guess we are not going to see exciting talents like Imran Farhat in Bangladesh leagues anymore, sigh...

Here is an idea- for small clubs like Indira Road and Young Pegasus that can't spent whole lot of money on foreign players, why don't they bring players from associate countries ? For example, Mohammad Nabi from Afghanistan, he has already few centuries against English county 2nd XIs and MCC, a good medium pacer too. There is Binod Das from Nepal who is a dominating pacer among ACC associate countries (Bangladeshi players should remember him well for leading the Nepal U/19 team that had beaten BD U/19 team in New Zealand, 2002). I bet those guys will be more than happy to play in DPL as long their traveling, food, and lodging expenses are covered.

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

News isn't good from Bangladesh. 200 people were injured today at the Awami League-led protests against the government, with tear gas and rubber bullets being used. The CCDM has announced that no games will be held during any blockades due to the danger posed to the players and will hold a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the schedule, which may now not start on January 10, leaving the national team players with even fewer DPL matches before travelling to Zimbabwe (which TBH looks like a much nicer place to be).

In other news, Khaled Mashud's position in the ODI side looks to be under severe threat from Mushfiqur Rahim, with many calling for his head after disappointing recent performances for both the Tigers and in the Twenty20.