February 4, 2003	Tuesday	Zul Hijjah 2,1423

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Group B (with South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Canada).

Strengths: Bangladesh have some useful batsmen, in particular Habibul Bashar, who has hit five Test half-centuries in a row, and Mohammad Ashraful, the youngest player ever to score a Test century. Both, however, have performed less well in the one-day format.

Weaknesses: Inexperience and a dearth of bowling. They have also struggled to find a pair of successful opening batsmen. Fielding is mediocre and often crumbles under pressure.

One-day form: Since the 1999 World Cup, they have not won in 26 matches — 25 defeats and one match rained off. They lost to Sri Lanka in August with their lowest one-day total of 76 and, five months later managed just 77 when losing to New Zealand in the Champions Trophy. But they at least managed to cross 150 twice in three games on tour in South Africa in October while scoring 195 and 182 against West Indies.

Past World Cup performances: Made their debut in 1999 after winning the ICC trophy, beating Scotland and achieving a shock victory over an under-performing, but already qualified, Pakistan.

Prediction: A first-round exit after beating Canada and — perhaps — Kenya.—Reuters