Bangladesh Name Squad For Kenya

Bangladesh have named their 15 man tour squad for Kenya and Zimbabwe yesterday, including 2 new faces in the team. Saqibul Hasan and Forhad Reza who are all-rounders have earned their places on the basis of strong performances for the youth sides earlier on this year and good domestic form.

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It is good to see that Bangladesh are able to continue to bring through youngsters via their feeder system. This is very much what Kenya need to work on doing. It makes sense for Bangladesh to blood these players now against the weaker teams before they have to face sterner opposition later on. Kenya have tried to do the same with our A team, but as yet do not seem to have the depth to make this work. With the introduction of a serious schools program however, this should start to change over the next couple of years or so.

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Bangladesh thrashed Kenya last time the two met earlier this year in Bangladesh, and will be intent on doing the same this time around. For Kenya, it is a chance to see what improvements have been made so far under Roger Harper. We have had a good few months to regroup and train, and hopefully we shall see the benefits pay off this series. It is also a chance for Cricket Kenya to raise awareness of the game back home. If it has not already started, there needs to be a serious marketing campaign to promote the series over the next two weeks.

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According to Cricinfo, the Bangladesh squad is as follows:

Habibul Bashar (capt), Mohammad Ashraful, Shahriar Nafees, Rajin Saleh, Javed Omar, Aftab Ahmed, Mushfiqur Rahim, Khaled Mashud, Mohammad Rafique, Mashrafe Mortaza, Syed Rasel, Shahadat Hossain, Forhad Reza, Saqibul Hasan, Alok Kapali.