Mortaza picked for New Zealand one-dayers

Mashrafe Mortaza, out with an injury since July, has been included in Bangladesh's squad for the short series in New Zealand next month but will only play the limited-overs matches and not the one-off Test. He has requested the Bangladesh Cricket Board not to consider him for the captaincy, which means that Shakib Al Hasan will continue as captain.

Mortaza, who underwent knee surgery after the tour of West Indies last year, was forced to miss the home Tests against India and the tri-series, also featuring Sri Lanka. He was the officially named captain before the team departed for the West Indies but since the first Test of that tour, when he suffered the injury, Shakib has led the team in his absence.

The 15-member squad for New Zealand does not include any new faces. The batsman Shahriar Nafees, who failed in his comeback Test against India in Chittagong, has been dropped and replaced by his former ICL team-mate Aftab Ahmed. The selectors also recalled the left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak to the Test squad, at the expense of Enamul Haque jnr. The fast bowler Mahbubul Alam, who didn't play the Tests against India, has also been omitted in favour of Nazmul Hossain, who has recovered from a right quadriceps muscle injury which had ruled him out of the tri-series.

Junaid Siddique, who replaced Nafees in the second Test against India in Mirpur, will join the team for the Test at Hamilton on February 15. The tour begins on February 3 with a one-off Twenty20, followed by three ODIs.

Squad: Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Mushfiqur Rahim (vice-capt/wk), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Mohammad Ashraful, Raqibul Hasan, Mahmudullah, Aftab Ahmed, Naeem Islam, Shahadat Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Abdur Razzak, Nazmul Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Mashrafe Mortaza