Afro-Asian A-team tournament

MartinW · #1 December 16, 2005, 04:53 AM

Details of the Afro-Asian A-team tournament hosted by Bangladesh in January have finally been announced.

The five-team event - which features sides from India, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Kenya - is based in Chittagong and starts on January 18. All the sides will play each other once, with the top two meeting in the final at the M A Aziz Stadium on January 28.

Cricinfo

The itinerary has just been announced and will be on the site in the next few hours.

PoorFan · #2 December 16, 2005, 05:00 AM

Great news!!! Looking forward for some international cricket in BD after a long time.:embaressed:
Thank's Mr. MartinW.

GuruTM · #3 December 16, 2005, 05:05 AM

This is encouraging news. Why is Pakistan not participating?

sabbir ahmad · #4 December 16, 2005, 05:28 AM

good news

imran78 · #5 December 16, 2005, 05:45 AM

the Sri Lankan A team is very strong. not sure about India, and we should be able to handle the Zim and Kenyan A teams with ease. BD-A has a shot of being the runners up in this tournament.

MartinW · #6 December 16, 2005, 06:25 AM

The tournament itinerary is now available:-

Schedule

It is now rumoured that the Indian board has yet to confirm its participation ...

Edited on, December 16, 2005, 11:26 AM GMT, by MartinW.

Edited on, December 16, 2005, 11:26 AM GMT, by MartinW.

CricTiger · #7 December 16, 2005, 07:52 AM

Good to hear this.

Although it came to me as a surprise as none of the leading print media discussed this before in details.

Bangladesh A have not been announced yet and also there were lots of confusions about the tournament .

Hopefully we will hear a lot about all others soon.

Edited on, December 16, 2005, 3:11 PM GMT, by CricTiger.
Reason: typo

Fazal · #8 December 16, 2005, 11:18 AM

Good News.... I am looking for some activities.... any kind of activities.

The selection of Team-a should be interesting.

Should they include mostly national players to enhance chance of winning ? Or

Reward players who played well in Domestic league ? Or

Reward some u-19 players for their success ?

sadi · #9 December 16, 2005, 11:48 AM

I don't think they will include under-19 as they will be training for the world cup...... but i think we should include some national team players as they haven't played any international cricket in a while and this can definately help... so best guess will be mixture of national team and individuals who did well in NCL and premier league...

nsd3 · #10 December 16, 2005, 03:41 PM

Why is Pakistan and South Africa not taking part? Also India is in doubt, all of them need to participate; otherwise the show may lose its glammer. Even if BD wins there will be lots of rumour like "Bon ga-e Shial Raja". Overall, this is definitely a very good move to have more cricket on here.

Finally, I believe, this not a mock show to say later that BD should play these A-Team level cricket to improve and then start playing Test with Aussie, India (the tours of these may still be in doubt).

sadi · #11 December 16, 2005, 03:55 PM

pakistan is not playing as they have their domestic season going at that time.... not sure about south africa though

TheWatcher · #12 December 16, 2005, 07:32 PM

According to Amardesh, Chittagong divisional stadium is almost ready for the tourny; the wickets in MA Aziz stadium needs some work which according to board curator Badiul Alam will be done within time.

There will be no prep-camp for selected players to let them enjoy Eid holidays.

CricTiger · #13 December 16, 2005, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by TheWatcher
According to Amardesh, Chittagong divisional stadium is almost ready for the tourny; the wickets in MA Aziz stadium needs some work which according to board curator Badiul Alam will be done within time.

There will be no prep-camp for selected players to let them enjoy Eid holidays.

How about the other one ,I guess we called it as Chittagong Divisional Stadium ? Has there been any game played there ? How is the pitch there ?

TheWatcher · #14 December 16, 2005, 08:28 PM

TigerCricket link for CDVS

Generally, Ctg spinners (Elias Sunny, Yasin Arafat, Shabbir Khan, Ahsanullah Hasan) produce good results on this ground, so I guess it is spin friendly.

aosaif · #15 December 16, 2005, 09:38 PM

Man Mirpur Stadium is gonna be awsum! 60 000 capacity!

http://tigercricket.com/crVenueDetail.aspx?venueID=7

Dhakablues · #16 December 17, 2005, 11:15 AM

Is this another title-less tournament? If it goes like this,, BCB soon will become like BKB( Bangladesh Kabadi Board). They should fire this government backed MP Marketing zeros. No wonder these tournaments are not getting any exposure.,,

TheWatcher · #17 December 17, 2005, 05:17 PM

Inqilub quoted Faruk saying the team will be announced after the first phase of the premier league is over (9th of January?). Only 3/4 current national players will be included to strengthen the side. For the rest, national discards who are doing well in domestic leagues on regular basis (not one or two individual performances), maintaining good fitness level, and has sound playing techniques, will be given priority in the selection. Few rising youngsters will be also included. The team will have a 3/4 days long conditioning camp after Eid Holydays.

Edited on, December 17, 2005, 10:19 PM GMT, by TheWatcher.

Carte Blanche · #18 December 18, 2005, 04:08 AM

What happened to Pakistan and South Africa? I wonder why they are not participating. Nonetheless, this tournament would be a very good experience for our youngsters. Our recent performance at this level has raised my expectation for the coming tournament. Hope our boys can live up to it.

TheWatcher · #19 December 18, 2005, 06:36 PM

[quote]The Kenya Cricket Association (KCA), however, said it had no information about the tournament.

"We have not got any official communication from the organisers but I am sure they will be in touch with over the matter," said Tom Tikolo, the KCA chief executive officer.

He said the KCA has not decided if it will send the main Kenya team or constitute an 'A' side.

"We will have to see the direction of the Africa Cricket Council on the what team to send," said Tikolo.

Starved of international match practice and without any hope that they will get a chance to play any of the top international sides, it is unlikely that the KCA will pass this opportunity to give the main team a chance to play some competitive game.

-www.nationmedia.com

CricTiger · #20 December 18, 2005, 06:42 PM

[quote]Originally posted by TheWatcher

Quote:

The Kenya Cricket Association (KCA), however, said it had no information about the tournament.

"We have not got any official communication from the organisers but I am sure they will be in touch with over the matter," said Tom Tikolo, the KCA chief executive officer.

He said the KCA has not decided if it will send the main Kenya team or constitute an 'A' side.

"We will have to see the direction of the Africa Cricket Council on the what team to send," said Tikolo.

Starved of international match practice and without any hope that they will get a chance to play any of the top international sides, it is unlikely that the KCA will pass this opportunity to give the main team a chance to play some competitive game.

-www.nationmedia.com

CricInfo reported this differently .Looks like Keneyan were well informed about this tournament .Here is the report
"
Rather oddly, it appears that the organisers were hoping for an African Representative XI, based around Kenya and Uganda, to take the fifth slot but it seems that the Kenyans refused, arguing that as they had recently whitewashed Zimbabwe A in Zimbabwe, they deserved a place on their own merits. "

TheWatcher · #21 December 18, 2005, 07:12 PM

The Kenyan squad that whitewashed Zim A had no second stringer, it was their full-blooded national team. This time around, I believe, both them and Zimbos will send their almost national teams. BCB should include at least 5/6 current national players in our A-team to avoid any humilation in hand of our African rivals.

Edited on, December 19, 2005, 12:13 AM GMT, by TheWatcher.

CricTiger · #22 December 18, 2005, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by TheWatcher
The Kenyan squad that whitewashed Zim A had no second stringer, it was their full-blooded national team. This time around, I believe, both them and Zimbos will send their almost national teams. BCB should include at least 5/6 current national players in our A-team to avoid any humilation in hand of our African rivals.

Edited on, December 19, 2005, 12:13 AM GMT, by TheWatcher.

Can not agree more that this.Based on other countries A list we should also file a strong A team.

And we do not want to see any humilating defeat in this tournament.

sadi · #23 December 18, 2005, 07:33 PM

our team will be pretty strong i guess...we should include players like forhad reza, waskuruni, kapali.........

TheWatcher · #24 December 19, 2005, 01:56 PM

DS report: Hosts look for an A team
[quote]Chief selector Faruque Ahmed yesterday said that they would consider only a small number of current national team players when they select a second string Bangladesh side for the upcoming Afro-Asian A-team tournament to be held in Chittagong next month.

The A team is considered as a back-up force for the national squad, but the former national captain believed that it was not the case in Bangladesh where the concept of a shadow national team is completely missing.

The non-existence of a proper A team often forces the selectors to include most of the national players due to a big gap between senior and junior sides.

"We need two more years to bring a change in the present trend. But for the upcoming tournament we will try to cut short the number of national players so that we can start the process of moulding a proper A team," said Faruque, adding that their priority would be to include as many as national discards in the team.

He however said that they would consider those players who have a potential to regain their national caps in the near future.

"This is an important tournament ahead of our home series against Sri Lanka in February-March and our focus would be on those discarded players who showed improvement in the recent domestic competitions as well as have an opportunity to return to the national team," he said. The selection committee led by Faruque will announce a 14-member Bangladesh A team in the first week of January.

"We have already identified some former national players who performed consistently in the domestic competitions so far but we will also have to consider their fitness level before final the selection," he added without elaborating.

TheWatcher · #25 December 19, 2005, 05:48 PM

Daily Amardesh reported that MA Aziz stadium (not Chittagong divisional stadium) is currently in a very bad shape. The outfield is full of long grass, uneven. The ground has holes to be filled up and bald patches where grass need to be planted. Wicket tops need to be rebuild. BCB groundsmen are still optimistic that all those things will be taken care in time for the tournament.