Meril Tournament: Bangladesh meet Kenya today (20 March 1999)

20 March 1999

Meril Tournament: Bangladesh meet Kenya today

Our Sports Reporter

Hosts Bangladesh will face Kenya at the Bangabandhu National Stadium this afternoon.

The day-night limited-overs encounter will start at 2 pm BST. Bangladesh Television will telecast the match live while Radio Bangladesh will cover the match ball-by-ball.

Indian umpire VK Ramaswamy and Pakistan umpire Javed Akhter will officiate the match while Peter Manuel will be the third umpire in today's match.

This will be the fifth one-day match between the two ICC associate members since they were awarded with the ODI status two years back. Kenya won three matches while Bangladesh won the other.

Both Bangladesh and Kenya will announce their team today before the match.

Kenya lost their opening match yesterday to tournament favourites Zimbabwe by 133 runs.

Kenya have two players in their squad - Steve Tikolo and Maurice Odumbe - with experience of playing at the Bangabandhu. The two Kenyans were in the Mohammedan line-up in the last Premier Division League. Both were more successful with the bat and occasionally with the ball. The Dhaka crowd will closely watch these two to find out if their long exposure to the best of the Bangladesh attack go in favour of the East Africans.

Or, will the Bangladesh bowlers be able to take advantage of their weaknesses.

Bangladesh will try to regain some of their lost pride when they take on Kenya in their day-night Meril International Cricket Tournament '99 opener at the Bangabandhu National Stadium today.

"We want to win this match and that's not only to revive the confidence of the team but also for our country's cricket. This win is very important for us and we will try and perform as best as possible after going out there," said a confident Bangladesh captain Aminul Islam after his team had a three-hour long nets at the venue yesterday morning.

In the practice session, the 19-member World Cup squad mostly concentrated on batting.

"As far as I'm concerned, we are slightly ahead of the Kenyans in batting and spin. I just want to go out and play positive cricket," said Aminul, who till then did not know his final eleven.

About injuries, Aminul informed that four players, including middle-order and former national skipper Akram Khan, were having problems. Faruque Ahmed, Mahbubur Rahman and Aminul Islam Junior were also nursing injuries.

Aminul, however, said that if Akram felt okay with his left wrist in the morning, he would be in the first eleven.

"Our main aim is to play the final and we are going to do everything possible for that," said Aminul.

"We have our home crowd behind us, which is both a bonus and a pressure. If we play well, we will be inspired by them. But, if we play bad, they will put us under pressure," said Aminul.

Aminul's Kenyan counterpart Asif Karim said it would be a serious match for them.

"Bangladesh is a good team. But we always played hard cricket against them and they also did the same. We are looking forward to play them at their home," said Karim.

This will be the fifth one-day match between Bangladesh and Kenya since the two countries were awarded ODI status on June 16, 1997. Kenya, the ICC runners-up, enjoy an upper hand over ICC champions Bangladesh, having won thrice and lost once.

Kenya beat Bangladesh by big margins in the first two meetings held in Kenya in a triangular series in October 1997. Zimbabwe, the other team featuring in that tournament, eventually emerged unbeaten champions.

The next two matches were held last year in May when India, Bangladesh and Kenya played in a three-nation meet in India. Bangladesh won the first match against Kenya by six wickets and then lost the next one by 27 runs.

Overall, Kenya's ODI record is more impressive than that of Bangladesh as they won five of their 21 matches. Apart from their three wins against Bangladesh, Kenya also defeated mighty West Indies in the last World Cup and beat India in India last May.

On the other hand, hosts Bangladesh have won only one of their 26 outings.

Today's match will start at 2 pm BST. Bangladesh Television will telecast the match Live while Radio Bangladesh will provide ball-by-ball commentary.

VK Ramaswamy of India and Pakistan umpire Javed Akhter will officiate today's match. Sri Lankan umpire Peter Manuel will be the third eye.

Both Bangladesh and Kenya will announce their team before the match.

Bangladesh: Aminul Islam (captain), Khaled Mashud, Javed Omar, Mehrab Hossain, Al-Shahriar, Akram Khan, Khaled Mahmud, Mohammad Rafique, Naimur Rahman, Hasibul Hossain, Manjurul Islam, Shahriar Hossain, Shafiuddin, Enamul Haque, Faruque Ahmed, Niamur Rashid, Jahangir Alam, Mahbubur Rahman and Aminul Islam Junior.

Kenya: Asif Karim (captain), Maurice Odumbe (vice-captain), Ravindu Shah, Steve Tikolo, Sandeep Gupta, Martin Suji, Tony Suji, Alpesh Vadher, Hitesh Modi, Kennedy Otieno, Deepak Chudasama, Joseph Angara, Muhammad Sheikh and James Kamande.

Source :: The Bangladesh Daily Star (https://www.dailystarnews.com)