September 14, 2008	Sunday	Ramazan 13, 1429

DHAKA, Sept 13: Bangladesh’s chief cricket selector Rafiqul Alam has said his team were completely disappointed by their batting in their 3-0 cleansweep to Australia in the recently held One-day International series.

“I think bowling and fielding-wise, the tour was good, but the batting was terrible,” Alam said of the series staged in Darwin.

“The batting in the last match was especially frustrating as we lost an opportunity while chasing 198 runs. Our batsmen surrendered meekly against the Australian pace attack.”

Alam, who travelled with the team to Darwin, spoke about some of the factors which may have hindered Bangladesh’s progress.

“I don’t want to give any excuses but the wicket was not perfect for one-day cricket,” he stated. “With the absence of Aftab Ahmed, Mushfiqur Rahim, Raqibul Hasan and Shahriar Nafees, we had a depleted batting line-up.

Unfortunately, over the last few months, we have never had a full-strength team due to injuries or players attending exams.”

When asked about the fate of Mohammad Ashraful’s captaincy and coach Jamie Siddons’ statements about his poor batting form, Alam said: “It’s not in my jurisdiction because the board has the sole authority to decide on the issue.

“I can say that Ashraful was not bad as a captain because the way he handled the bowlers and changed fielding positions was good,” he expressed.

“But the main problem is that he has struggled with his batting.”

Bangladesh started their tour on the poor note when they lost the first ODI by a massive 180-run margin after being bowled out for 74, their lowest score in ODIs. In the second match, they continued from where they left off, folding for 117 on the way to an eight-wicket loss.

They had a chance to earn a consolation win in the third ODI, but besides Tamim Iqbal, who top scored with 63, none of their batsmen displayed the required skills.—Agencies