Sports
ESPNcricinfo’s Mohamad Isam to conduct online sports journalism course
ESPNcricinfo’s Bangladesh correspondent Mohammad Isam is going to conduct a Sports Journalism workshop for the third time.
Lawrence Booth, editor of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, will attend the workshop as a guest speaker. The course will be conducted online .
READ: New Zealand opt to bat first in 4th T20I vs Bangladesh
A month-long Sports Writing Workshop, organised by sports website pavilion.com.bd and conducted by Mohammad Isam, will start in mid September.
The online aspect opens up the possibility of people outside Dhaka taking part in the course. There will be eight sessions this time, compared to four on the previous occasions. Lawrence Booth, editor of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, will be a guest speaker in one of the classes.
READ: To take the series, Tigers must dig deep against resurgent Kiwis
Around 40 participants took part in the first two chapters of the workshop in 2018 and 2019.
This workshop will cover various aspects of sports writing, a profession that is fast becoming popular in Bangladesh.
Women's Football: Bangladesh have their first practice sessions in Nepal
Bangladesh National Women's Football team, now in Nepal, held a conditioning, gym and practice session in Kathmandu on Tuesday, after all the players and coaching staff of the team tested negative for Covid-19.
Touring Bangladeshi women booters had strength, conditioning and gym sessions at the team hotel in the morning from 10:30 am to 12 noon and had an outdoor practice session in the afternoon at the ATF Stadium in Halchowk from 3 pm to 4:30 pm.
The sky of Kathmandu was cloudy on Tuesday and witnessed light rain during Bangladesh practice session.
Earlier on Monday, a 32- member Bangladesh Women's team reached Kathmandu on way to Uzbekistan by a chartered flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines to play two FIFA Tier-1 International friendly football there.
READ: Bangladesh women's football team reach Nepal
Bangladesh Women's will play Nepalese National Women's team on Sept 9 and 12 at the Dasharath Stadium in Kathmandu ahead of the AFC Women's Asian Cup'2022 India Qualifiers in Uzbekistan.
It will be the first international match for Bangladesh national women's booters in more than two and half years since playing the semifinal of SAFF Championship against India in March 2019.
After playing two preparatory matches in Nepal, Bangladesh Women's team will directly fly to Uzbekistan on Sept 14 to play the qualifying round of the AFC Women's Asian Cup there on September 19-24.
Bangladesh, which was placed in Group G of the Asian meet with stronger Jordan and Iran, will play Jordan on Sept 19 and IR Iran on Sept 22, both in Tashkent.
Three Nations Cup: Bangladesh lose 0-2 to Palestine
Bangladesh national football team conceded a 0-2 defeat against Palestine in their first match of the Three Nations Cup 2021 in Kyrgyzstan Sunday night.
Palestine put Bangladesh down by one goal in the first half at the Dolen Omurzakov Stadium in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek.
Layth Kharoub put Palestine ahead in the 33rd minute (1-0); MA Yaser added one more in the 47th minute (2-0).
Women's Football: Brahmanbaria become group champions outplaying Cox's Bazar 4-1
Brahmanbaria emerged Group A champions with all-win record to reach the semi-final of the JFA-U-14 National Women's Football Championship' 2021 eliminating Cox's Bazar by 4-1 goals at the Shahid Muktijoddha Smriti Stadium in Rajshahi on Sunday.
Jasmin made a hat-trick scoring in the 9th, 34th and 55th minutes while Puja Rani netted the other goal for Brahmanbaria the 43rd minute.
Kranchi Marma scored the consolation goal for Cox's Bazar in the stoppage time of the match (70+1 minute).
Read: Women's Football: Brahmanbaria beat Mymensingh 3-1 to reach semifinal
In the day's other match, Panchagarh advanced to the semi-final as group A runners up outplaying all losers Mymensingh by 3-0 goals at the same venue Sunday afternoon.
Rimi Khatun struck two in the 22nd and 45th minutes while Trisha Rani scored the other goal for Panchagarh in the 13th minute
On completion of all the three Group A matches, Brahmanbaria clinched group title with all-win run securing full nine points while Panchagarh finished group runners up collecting four points at the coffin of Cox's Bazar.
Read: Women's Football: Bashundhara Kings clinch league crown
In the semi-finals on Tuesday, Group A champions Brahmanbaria will play either against hosts Rajshahi or Magura at 2:30 pm while Panchagarh will meet either Magura or Rajshahi at 4:30 pm.
Two top teams of the group B-- Magura and hosts Rajshahi --will meet each other on Monday at the same venue to decide the group champions .
Bangladesh women's football team to leave for Nepal Monday
A 31-member national women's football team will fly to Nepal early Monday on a chartered flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines to play two FIFA tier-1 international football friendly matches against the hosts.
The touring Bangladesh team will play against Nepal on September 8 and 12 at the Dasharath Stadium in Kathmandu ahead of their AFC Women's Asian Cup 2022 India qualifiers.
Read: Women's Football: Brahmanbaria beat Mymensingh 3-1 to reach semifinal
The qualifying round of the AFC Women's Asian Cup will be held in Uzbekistan from September 19-24.
In Group G, Bangladesh will face Jordan on September 19 and Iran on September 22, both in the Uzbek capital Tashkent.
Three Nation Football: Bangladesh start tough campaign against Palestine tomorrow
Bangladesh national football team, now in Kyrgyzstan, will kick off their campaign in the Three Nations Cup 2021 by taking on Palestine in Bishkek on Sunday.
The match kicks-off at 8:30 pm Bangladesh Standard Time at the Dolen Omurzakov Stadium in the Kyrgyz capital.
Going by the latest FIFA rankings, 186th-ranked Bangladesh will have a tough time competing with 96th-ranked Kyrgyzstan and 102nd-ranked Palestine.
English Head Coach Jamie Day's Bangladesh will play their 2nd match on September 7 (Tuesday) against hosts Kyrgyzstan, who are in a good position having beaten Palestine 1-0 in the tournament's opening match on Thursday.
Besides, Bangladesh team will also play a friendly match against hosts Kyrgyzstan U-23 side on September 9 as part of their preparation for the SAFF Championship to be held in Maldives next month (October).
Read: Expatriate booters Rahbar, Tahmid join practice session in Kyrgyzstan
Prior to Sunday's match, Bangladesh team had an one-hour official training session at the match venue from 10 am to 11 am on Saturday.
This time Bangladesh included two fresh expatriate booters in the squad-- forward Rahbar Wahed Khan from Canada and medio Nayb Md Tahmidul Islam from France in addition to Denmark-born national captain Jamal Bhuiyan and Finland-born Tariq Kazi.
Ahead of Sunday's match, Bangladesh captain Jamal Bhuiyan said "Tomorrow is our first match against Palestine, we watched the Kyrgyzstan-Palestine match and discussed about our strategy with the coach. We are fully fit and ready to face Palestine."
"We have to improve our performance, we practiced how to play the match, we will try a new system tomorrow, if it will click then we will continue it," he added
Meanwhile, President of Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) Kazi Mohammad Salahuddin, accompanied by FIFA council member, BFF and AFC member Mahfuza Akhter Kiron and BFF general secretary Abu Nayem Sohag, are also now in Bishkek to encourage the booters.
Women's Football: Brahmanbaria beat Mymensingh 3-1 to reach semifinal
Brahmanbaria reached the semifinal of the eight-team JFA-U-14 National Women's Football Championship 2021 from Group A, beating Mymensingh 3-1 Friday.
Brahmanbaria made a good start to the competition beating Panchagarh 1-0 in the first match Wednesday.
After a scoreless first half at Rajshahi's Shahid Muktijoddha Smriti Stadium, Jasmin, Sadia and Puja netted one goal each for Brahmanbaria in the 44th, 69th 72nd minutes. Poly pulled one back for Mymensingh in the 43rd minute.
Read: Women's Football: Bashundhara Kings clinch league crown
In Friday's other match, Cox's Bazar stayed in the semifinal race after playing to a 2-2 draw with Panchagarh at the same venue in the afternoon.
Thoyen netted two goals for Cox's Bazar in the 36th and 75th minutes; Nushrat Mithu and Taposhi scored one each for Panchagarh in the 38th and 45th minutes.
Earlier, Cox's Bazar made a flying start to the final round of the JFA-U-14 National Women's Football, beating Mymensingh 3-1 in the opening match at the same venue on September 1.
So far, Brahmanbaria have dominated Group A with six points from two matches; Cox's Bazar have earned four points, Panchagarh one point, and Mymensingh are yet to open their account.
Read: Women's Football: Bashundhara Kings clinch league crown with 18-0 victory over Jamalpur KA
Top two teams of the group – Brahmanbaria and Cox's Bazar – will meet each other Sunday at the same venue.
After the group matches, the top two teams from each group will play in the semifinals on September 7. The final match will be held on September 9 at the same venue.
Bangladesh overpower New Zealand on tricky surface
Coming to the 11th match, Bangladesh registered their maiden T20I victory over New Zealand by seven wickets on Wednesday at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
Bangladesh captain Mahmudullah Riyad praised his bowlers for the victory.
In post-match comments he said: “The first match is important and we have to do it again in the remaining matches.”
New Zealand won the toss and opted to bat first putting only 60 runs on the board losing all wickets. Bangladesh’s spin department literally went through their batting line-up. Bangladeshi spinners bowled 12 overs in this game and conceded 38 runs to take five wickets.
“It was a disappointing start to the series,” Tom Latham, New Zealand captain said after the match. “We built some partnerships in the middle overs but failed to continue on those. We couldn’t hold on. I hope we can learn from this game and do better in the next matches.”
Chasing 61 for victory, Bangladesh sealed the game in 15 overs with seven wickets in hand despite losing the openers inside seven runs.
Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim posted a 30-run stand and recovered the early damage well.
Shakib fell on 25, but Mushfiqur and Mahmudullah Riyad remained unbeaten on 16 and 14 respectively.
“It’s good to win the first match of the series, and it was also our first win against New Zealand,” man-of-match Shakib told the broadcaster after the match. “It will boost our team and give us confidence for the rest of the series”.
Read: BAN vs. NZ: Bangladesh's Three Memorable Victories Against New Zealand
New Zealand’s 60 for all wickets was their joint-lowest total in T20Is.
On the terribly slow wicket, Mustafizur Rahman bagged three wickets conceding 13 runs while all of Nasum Ahmed, Shakib and Mohammad Saifuddin scalped two wickets each.
New Zealand only managed to score 18 runs in the power play losing four wickets. They had a miserable start as they lost the first wicket in the first over of the match bowled by Mahedi Hasan.
Rachin Ravindra, the debutant, failed to impress as he chipped a return catch and suffered a duck on his debut.
One over later Shakib came and removed Will Young for five. Shakib put it on an in-between length, and the ball didn’t bounce as much as the batsman wanted it. Young missed the ball which eventually hit his stumps.
Nasum struck twice in the fourth over to remove Colin de Grandhomme and Tom Blundell for one and two respectively. Mohammad Naim took a regulation catch at the square leg when Grandhomme tried a mighty slog sweep, and Blundell fell while giving a return catch to the bowler.
In the next six overs, New Zealand didn’t lose any more wickets and reached 40 in 10 overs.
Mahmudullah brought in Saifuddin in the 11th over, and he kept the faith intact removing New Zealand captain Latham for 18.
Read: BAN vs. NZ 2021: Milestones Bangladesh Cricketers Can Achieve in the T20I Series
In the next over, Shakib removed Cole McConchie for a duck— with this, both of the Blackcaps debutants suffered a duck each. Saifuddin struck again in the next over as Henry Nicholls fell prey to him for 17 with Mushfiqur took a dolly at the long-on.
Bangladesh’s premium T20 bowler Mustafizur struck twice in the 14th over scalping Ajaz Patel and Doug Bracewell for three and five respectively.
Latham and Nicholls were the best batsmen of New Zealand in this match scoring 18 each.
Eventually, New Zealand’s nightmarish batting display ended on 60 for all out, their lowest against Bangladesh. It was also the lowest total by any team against Bangladesh.
The remaining matches of the series will take place on September 3, 5, 8 and 10 respectively at the same venue.
BPL: With title race over, Saif SC shock Dhaka Abahani
Saif Sporting Club forced six times champions Dhaka Abahani Limited to concede 2-3 goals defeat in the 13-team Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) Football 2020-21 at the Banglabandhu National Stadium here on Friday.
Saif SC dominated the first half by 2-0 goals.
After the day 's shocking defeat, Dhaka Abahani Ltd went down in the runners-up race with 40 points from 21 matches while Saif SC advanced to 6th slot securing 35 points from 20 encounters.
Three times champions Sheikh Jamal DC are in the 2nd place toppling six times champions Dhaka Abahani Ltd securing 42 points from 20.
READ: BPL Football: Bashundhara Kings clinch title beating Sheikh Jamal 2-0
Star studded Bashundhara Kings, which smartly clinched league title with four matches to spare last Monday ,further sounded their margin securing 58 points from 21 matches.
In the day's match, Nigerian booter Kenneth Ikechukwu put Saif SC ahead in the 43rd minute while another Nigerian John Okoli doubled the margin in the stoppage time of the first half (45+2 minute).(2-0).
Haitian forward Kervens Belfort and local striker Jewel Rana scored two quick goals for the sky-blue Dhanmondi outfit Abahani in the span of only one minute in the 77th and 78th minutes to level the margin (2-2).
Finally, Nigerian booter Kenneth Ikechukwu scored the match-winner for Saif SC netting his 2nd goal in the 81st minute (3-1).
READ: BPL Football: Saif SC outplay Sheikh Russel KC 4-2
In the day's another league match, Bangladesh Police FC outplayed Muktijoddha Sangshad KC by 3-1 goals at the same venue Friday evening, featuring a hattrick by Ivory Coast forward Christian Kouakou .
After a barren first half, Christian Kouakou made a hattrick scoring all the three goals for the Police FC in the 61st, 75th and 85th minutes (3-0).
Another Ivory Coast forward Ballo Famoussa netted the consolation goal for the freedom fighters team Muktijoddha in the 90th minute from a penalty. (3-1).
After the match, Police FC are in the 8th slot collecting 22 points from 20 matches while Muktijoddha SKC at the 11th place with 15 points from 20 encounters.
Ashwell Prince named Bangladesh’s full-time batting coach
Former South African batsman Ashwell Prince joined Bangladesh national team cochin staff as the full-time batting coach, both Prince and Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) confirmed the development.
The former batsman will work under the Tiger’s head coach Russell Domingo, who is also a South African.
Prince was included in the Bangladesh coaching staff first time during the Zimbabwe tour. But now, he has been named as the full-time coach and will play the role till T20 World Cup 2022 which will take place in Australia.
“We contracted with Prince for a period of 22 months,” Akram Khan told UNB Thursday.
Read: Tamim Iqbal signs as brand ambassador of IPDC
“He will work as the batting coach of Bangladesh national team till the T20 World Cup 2022. We are happy with what he has done so far for us.”
It will be Prince’s first stint as the specialist coach of an international team. To take the new role, Prince resigned from the post of the head coach of South Africa's Western Province.
During his playing days, Price played 66 Tests, 52 ODIs and one T20I for South Africa. After finishing his playing career, Prince started his coaching role working with the Cobras which are a franchisee dissolved into Western Province.