Bangladesh Premier League to begin on February 9

The first edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) will kick off on February 9, 2012 with the final to be played on February 29. The 20-day tournament will feature six teams that will play each other twice each in a round-robin format over 33 matches to be held in Chittagong and Dhaka.

Teams will be allowed to field five foreign players in their XIs, as opposed to four in the IPL. Adam Gilchrist, Mathew Hayden, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Kamran Akmal and James Anderson are among at least 25 foreign players who have made themselves available for the tournament.

"The main thing is the Bangladesh players have to be available," Arun Lal, a consultant to Game on Sports, the tournament organisers, and also a former India opener, told ESPNcricinfo.

As in the first season of the IPL, each team will have an icon player. The Bangladesh Cricket Board announced yesterday that Tamim Iqbal will be the icon player for Chittagong, Mohammad Ashraful for Dhaka, Alok Kapali for Sylhet, Shahriar Nafees for Barisal, Mushfiqur Rahim for Rajshahi and Shakib Al Hasan for Khulna. The players will be paid 5% more than the amount received by the highest paid player of each franchise.

The franchise auction will take place on January 5, either in Dhaka or the sea-side town of Cox's Bazar. Companies wishing to bid for a franchise will submit their offers on the same day, and bids will be opened in front of all those present, with the franchises going to the highest bidder. The player auction is scheduled to take place 10 days later. Each team will have to spend a minimum of US $2 million and can spend up to a maximum of $5 million.

The BPL will be televised on a new sports channel in Bangladesh and the organisers are believed to be in discussions with Ten Sports to broadcast the tournament in India. However, India's domestic 50-over tournament begins on February 20 and therefore could restrict Indian participation. "India is a problem," Lal said. "In the first six or eight games, they [India players] could play."

The organisers are also hoping that the winner of the BPL will be given a place in the Champions League Twenty20 next year.

Game on Sports paid US$44.3 million for the rights to the BPL for six years.

Source: Cricinfo

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Tigers stun Caribbeans to earn solace win

The Tigers cruised to easy victory after packing visiting Caribbeans for 61 in just 22 overs in the third and final game of the three-match series at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong Tuesday.

The invigorated home side, which is out there with all its might to win the game, scored 62 in 20 overs losing the wickets of Imrul Kayes and Shahriar Nafees.

Imrul failed to connect properly a delivery from Kemar Roach in the fifth over and gave a catch to Kieron Pollard. Meanwhile, Samuels bowled Nafees in the first ball of eighth over.

Skipper Mushfiqur Rahim batted with opener Tamim Iqbal to win the third one-day game.

Spinner Shakib Al Hasan ripped through the West Indies batting line up after the pacers – Nazmul Hossain and Shafiul Islam – had initiated the havoc removing top two batsmen in 11 overs.

Kieran Powell scored 25, the highest run by any Caribbeans batsman in the match, followed by Carlos Brathwaite who is only other batsman to score a double figure.

The win would earn a kind of solace and revitalise for the upcoming Test series the hosts who lost the previous two ODIs held at Sher-e Bangla Stadium in the capital.

Pacer Nazmul Hossain began the wrecking in sixth over deceiving opener Danza Hyatt to give a catch to Imrul Kayes in the slip. In the 11th over, Shafiul Islam, another pacer, came up to remove Marlon Samuels.

Nasir Hossain joined the fold to cause havoc to the Caribbeans squad. After bowling out Kieran Powell in the second ball of the 12th over, he took the catch of Kieron Pollard in the next ball.

Shafiul sent back Darren Bravo in a superb delivery in the next over.

Darren Sammy, the Caribbeans captain, fell victim to leg before as former Bangladesh skipper Shakib delivered his first ball in the match. In his second over, Shakib bowled Denesh Ramdin.

Tattered totally, the West Indies batsmen had no clue how to stay in the crease. Suhrawadi Shuvo appeared to add to their miseries by taking catch of Andre Russell in his own ball in the 17th over.

Then it was all Shakib’s. He trapped Barthwaite leg before in the 20th over and bowled Anthony Martin in the 22nd over to post a brilliant four-for-16 figure as a Bangladeshi bowler.

Out there in gallery, Bangladesh supporters and fans were on the moon.

Earlier, winning the toss for the fourth consecutive time, Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim invited West Indies to bat.

Start of the match, which was scheduled to begin at 1:30pm, was deferred by half an hour due to a wet outfield caused by rain.

The Caribbeans won the second consecutive ODI against host Bangladesh by eight wickets at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in the capital’s Mirpur area on October 15.

On October 13, West Indies won a 40-run victory in their first ODI at the same venue.

Bangladesh, however, defeated West Indies by three wickets with just one ball to spare in the one-off Twenty20 international on October 11.

One of the two Test matches will take place in Chittagong on October 21 while the rest one in Dhaka on October 29.

Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Shahriar Nafees, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (Captain), Shuvagata Hom, Naeem Islam, Nasir Hossain, Suhrawadi Shuvo, Shafiul Islam and Nazmul Hossain

West Indies: KOA Powell, DM Bravo, MN Samuels, DP Hyatt, D Ramdin, KA Pollard, AD Russell, DJG Sammy (Captain), A Martin, CR Brathwaite and KAJ Roach

Source: The Daily Star

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Bangladesh rout West Indies for 61 runs

The threat of rain loomed over gloomy Chittagong but the weather stayed clear enough for Bangladesh to demolish West Indies for their second-lowest total in one-day internationals. From 33 for 1, Bangladesh's bowlers began to hack through the line-up as nine wickets fell for 28 runs. The strong crowd that turned up despite the wetness cheered as the home side dished out retribution for the two defeats in the series, and for the humiliation in the 2011 World Cup.

West Indies had lost only two and four wickets during their victories in Mirpur but this Chittagong pitch was different. The pace was sluggish, the bounce low and the ball did not come on to the bat. There was turn too. To add to that, rain on the eve of the match had left the outfield soggy, and shots hit along the ground lost speed quickly. Batting conditions were far from ideal, and Mushfiqur Rahim immediately chose to bowl after winning four out of four tosses on the tour.

Danza Hyatt and Kieran Powell, playing because Lendl Simmons had a back problem, struggled to score. They added only 10 runs in six overs before Hyatt lost patience and attempted to loft Nazmul Hossain, who replaced Rubel Hossain, down the ground and edged to slip.

Marlon Samuels, the scourge of Bangladesh on this tour, tried to play like he had in Mirpur. He stayed back in his crease irrespective of whether the ball was full or not and attempted to drive and steer behind point. After 14 quiet deliveries, Samuels tried to carve Shafiul Islam and holed out to Suhrawadi Shuvo at sweeper cover. West Indies were 33 for 2 in the 11th over.

Powell looked the best of the batsmen, which wasn't saying much, as he batted with an upright stance and used his top hand to drive straight and through the off side. He had hit the only boundaries (four) during the mandatory Powerplay, all of them against medium-pace. Spin in the 12th over, however, was a tougher test and Powell was bowled off the second ball he faced from Nasir Hossain. The offbreak drifted into him, pitched on leg stump, and ripped across the outside edge to hit the top of off stump. It was the delivery of the match. The very next ball, Nasir induced a return catch from Pollard. They were his first one-day wickets and Nasir had reduced West Indies to 34 for 4.

The innings went into free-fall thereafter. Darren Bravo edged a square drive to the keeper in the 13th over and Darren Sammy was lbw to Shakib's first ball off the next. Shakib went on to cut through the lower order, finishing with figures of 4 for 16 as he ended the innings in the 22nd over.

Source: ESPN EMEA Ltd.

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