Siddons, bc coach sanguine about NZ series

Dhaka, Sept 22 – Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons believes the players selected for the squad are good enough to do well in the ensuring home series against New Zealand despite losing seven top cricketers to breakaway Indian Cricket League.

"I am excited. Disappointed that we have lost some players, but the players who have come in we are going to look at them anyway.

"I think we have picked a strong side and hopefully a one that is good enough to beat New Zealand," Australian coach Siddons said to reporters at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Monday.

The coach, however, was a bit worried over the team composition. "It will take a fair bit of thinking to rearrange the things. Roqibul (Hassan) is probably the biggest concern at the moment as he is our best player at the moment and he is injured."

The Tigers had stretch and nets on the first day of the training ahead of next month's home series. But seven of the 24 cricketers named in the provisional squad missed the first day's training.

Middle-order batsman Rajin Saleh and spinner Enamul Haq Jr along with five academy cricketers Imrul Kayes, Naeem Islam, Shamsur Rahman, Suhrawardi Shuvo and Mahbubul Alam Robin, who are touring Sri Lanka, were absent.

The players sported red and green T-shirts, and the national flags on their forehead during the practice, apparently to get over the shock of the exodus to India.

New Zealand are scheduled to arrive on Sept 30 to play three one-day internationals and two Tests.

Captain Mohammad Ashraful, who returned home in the morning from England, also joined the camp, but did not talk to the reporters.

Unconfirmed reports say he was allegedly involved with the players' move to the ICL.

Asked if he believed Ashraful pulled the strings behind the scenes, Siddons said, "There is no way I will be saying that. I think Ash(raful) is a pretty honest person. As soon as he was approached, he let everyone know and discussed that openly with them and I think he has made the right decision."

The 44-year old also said that he had informed BCB cricket operations chairman Gazi Ashraful Hossain Lipu about the probable moves of the players to the ICL during the tour of Australia last month.

"As soon as I'd heard there were talks about it, I informed the board. I wasn't looking for names or confirmation. I think the players had an offer given to them and were in talks. Since I knew it, I had informed the board."

On whether Ashraful needs a break from captaincy, Siddons said, "I don't think so. He has comeback pretty fresh and looks very happy to me. A little bit tired, but he looks quite happy and I'm still hoping for the best of Ashraful."

"In the nets he keeps showing us that he can do the job."

After two disappointing performances against Australia, Siddons told reporters that Ashraful should take a break from captaincy, prompting the Bangladesh Cricket Board to warn him.

He was told that he should talk to the board, not the media, if he felt he had to say anything as serious about the players.

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