Dhaka, April 17 (UNB) – The quarterfinals of the Prime Bank Young Tigers National School Cricket Tournament begins on Thursday at country’s two northern venues—Rangpur Cricket Gardens and Lalmonirhat District Stadium.

Eight teams --Seven Divisional champions and Dhaka Metro champions—will battle for the national school crown on knockout basis.  All the matches will kick-off at 9 am.

Defending champions and Rajshahi Division champions Bogura Police Lines School & College will play Dhaka Metro champions Wiles Little Flower School & College at Lalmonirhat District Stadium while Barishal Division champions Pirojpur Govt Boys High School will encounter Khulna Division champions Bagerhat ML School & College at Rangpur Cricket Garden in the quarterfinals on Thursday. 

In the remaining two quarterfinals on Friday, Dhaka Division champions Narayanganj Jila School will face Rangpur Division champions Shishu Niketan High School while Sylhet Division champions PDB High School will meet Chattogram Division champions Cumilla High School.

The two semifinals billed for April 21 and the final scheduled for April 23, all at the Rangpur Cricket Garden.

Some 11,120 promising cricketers from 556 schools took part in 958 matches in the country’s biggest cricket meet, organized by Bangladesh Cricket Board and sponsored by Prime bank Limited.

Dhaka, Apr 17 (UNB) —Bangladesh ODI captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza on Wednesday has become the second Bangladeshi bowler to scalp 400 wickets in List A cricket.

Before him, left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak also scalped 400 wickets in List-A cricket.

Mashrafe bagged his 400th List-A wicket when he scalped Irfan Sukkur of Mohammedan Sporting Club at Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishtan. The right-arm pacer is playing in the ongoing season of Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League for Abahani Limited.

The captain of the national ODI team completed 399 wickets three matches ago. Since then, he has been waiting to grab the 400th wicket. However, on Wednesday, his wait came to the end finally.

Mashrafe started the league with 389 wickets. He bagged two wickets in his first match of the season. But failed to take any wicket in next three matches. However, he returned to the form taking six wickets against Gazi Group Cricketers. In the next two matches, he scalped two wickets and reached 399.

Abdur Razzak took 269 matches to complete 400 wickets in List-A cricket. On the other hand, Mashrafe took 287 matches to touch the feat.

Dhaka, Apr 16 (UNB) — Right-handed middle-order batsman Mosaddek Hossain says representing Bangladesh on the biggest cricketing event has been his lifelong dream.

“It was my dream to play the World Cup. I’m in Bangladesh’s World Cup squad. It’s like a dream come true for me,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

He has been included in Tigers’ 15-member squad. Mosaddek said he was pleasantly surprised when he got the call from the cricket board.

He started playing for the national team in 2016. Since then, he has played 24 ODIs, eight T20 Internationals and two Tests but failed to cement his place in the team. 

Mosaddek said he tried his best to do well for the national team. In the ODIs, he scored 341 runs at an average of 31 with the best score of an unbeaten 50. However, in List-A cricket, he is currently one of the best batsmen in Bangladesh. 

He is also an off-spinner, a quality that caught the selectors’ eyes.

“Mosaddek played well in domestic cricket. At the same time, he is able to bowl off-spin,” chief selector Minhazul Abedin told reporters. 

“Since Mahmudullah Riyad is still uncertain to bowl due to a shoulder injury, we wanted an off-spinning all-rounder, and this is why we included Mosaddek.”

Dhaka, Apr 16 (UNB) — Uttara Sporting Club managed to live up to the expectation in their first relegation league match of the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League crushing Brothers Union Club by 188 runs at BKSP ground in Savar on Tuesday.  

Brothers won the toss and decided to bowl first. 

Sent into bat first, UttaraSC posted a huge total of 313 for 6 wickets in 50 overs riding on a century by Shanaj Ahmed, who scored 114 runs off 106 balls, featuring 12 fours and two sixes. 

Apart from Shanaj, Anisul Islam Emon and Mohimenul Khan scored 64 and 66 runs respectively for Uttara SC. 

Bishawnath Halder bagged three wickets while Mohammad Shahzad took two wickets for Brothers. 

In reply, Brothers Union tumbled for 125 all-out in 29.2 overs to lose the match by huge 188 runs. Zahiduzzaman was the best among Brothers batsman scoring 42 while JunaidSiddique posted 27 runs.

Right-arm spinner Mohimenul Khan bagged Uttara SC five wickets for 38 runs in 10 overs while SajjadHossain took three wickets.

Dhaka, Apr 16 (UNB) — Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Tuesday announced the 15-member squad for the upcoming World Cup, leaving out players like Taskin Ahmed and Imrul Kayes.

Taskin had been suffering from an ankle injury but he recently started playing Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League. He has failed to impress in the only match he played for Legends of Rupganj.

Imrul, on the other hand, has been superb throughout last year for the Tigers. He played eight matches and scored 436 runs with two centuries. But he put up a dismal show in the ongoing Dhaka League.

He is in BCB’s 20-member pool.

“The team management wanted a right and left-handed combination at the top order. So, we decided not to pick him,” chief selector Minhazul Abedin said.

Left-handed batsman Soumya Sarkar got the selectors’ nod. He played nine matches last year and scored 307 runs including a century against Zimbabwe. But his performance in the ongoing Dhaka League has been dismal.

“We’re hopeful that he’ll get back his form before the World Cup. He did well for the national team before,” Minhazul said after announcing the team.

Taskin was dropped because of fitness. He was superb during the last season of Bangladesh Premier League. But he injured his ankle during the last match of Sylhet Sixers and had been sidelined for more than two months.

“He isn’t fit enough. We considered him for the New Zealand tour after his good display in BPL. But he was injured again,” the chief selector said.

“He recently played a match in Dhaka League and it seems that he’s yet to be fully fit. But still, there’s time. We’ll consider him if any pacer gets injured in Ireland tour,” Minhazul said.

BCB selectors called Abu Jayed Rahi in the ODI team for the first time instead of Taskin. The right-arm bowler is known for his ability to swing the ball. He took 11 wickets in five Tests and four wickets in three T20 Internationals for Tigers.

“Abu Jayed played Tests in New Zealand but did not get chance in the limited-overs cricket. We saw that he has the ability to swing the ball more than any of our bowlers. Since the World Cup is in England, we think he can be a good pick,” Minhazul said.