Board open to captaincy

[chinaman]

The ongoing speculations about who would lead Bangladesh during their coming away series against Zimbabwe was given a fresh twist when the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) decided to come out of its usual policy of selecting a captain.

The Board also dismissed the two-captain suggestion terming it a 'luxury' for a country like Bangladesh.

Chairman of the BCB media committee Reazuddin Al Mamun told reporters after coming out of an advisory committee meeting yesterday, that the Board would wait until the four-member selection panel had named the final squad before choosing a captain. In the past, the captain had been picked much ahead of the selection of the rest of the team.

"We will announce the captain's name on Friday after the selectors have submitted their list to the Board on Thursday," said Mamun.

Chief selector Faruque Ahmed, who is now in Pakistan observing the performance of the Bangladesh A team, is scheduled to return home today. He is expected to meet his fellow selectors Athar Ali Khan, Golam Nowsher and Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore over the next couple of days to finalise the side for Zimbabwe.

Whatmore is a staunch believer in selecting the skipper from a final list of players and the Board also thought that it was about time that it shed the method of making the captain an automatic choice.

"We decided to break the convention as a show of respect to the selectors' desire," Mamun explained.

Mamun also ruled out any possibility of selecting separate captains for Tests and One dayers.

There have been heated debates in the media and elsewhere regarding the possibility after news leaked out that the selection committee had suggested likewise to the board.

"The question was raised in the board meeting but not for discussion because we don't believe we have options for such luxury. I can assure you that only one person will lead the team in the coming series," said Mamun who is also an advisor of the BCB.

Some leading dailies carried out reports speculating that country's top batsman Habibul Bashar was destined to take over the Test captaincy while present skipper Khaled Mahmud will be in charge of the one day side.

"It was unfortunate that such reports came out in newspapers at a time when the national cricketers were preparing for a major tour," added Mamun.

Source