Ashraful leads Bangladesh to NZ

Mohammad Ashraful will lead Bangladesh to New Zealand to play three one day internationals next month. Experienced seam bowler Mashrafe Mortaza has been named as deputy to Ashraful. Both have been confirmed in their roles until December 2008.

Although he has one of the best ODI records of Bangladesh batsmen, opener Shahriar Nafees has been dropped from the team. The other change from the team that lost heavily to Sri Lana in July is the sacking of offspinner Mahmudullah. Coming into the side are Junaid Siddique and Nazmul Hossain.

Siddique scored 71 off 49 balls in his only game of the ICC World Twenty20, his only game for Bangladesh to date. His fellow 20-year-old, Nazmul Hossain is one of the more promising seam bowlers in Bangladesh cricket.

Bangladesh ODI squad:
Mohammad Ashraful (captain), Mashrafe Mortaza (vice-captain), Javed Omar, Tushar Imran, Abdur Razzak, Shakib Al Hasan, Syed Rasel, Aftab Ahmed, Mushfiqur Rahim (wicketkeeper), Shahadat Hossain, Junaid Siddique, Farhad Reza, Mehrab Hossain jnr, Tamim Iqbal, Nazmul Hossain.