Date:26/04/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/04/26/stories/2006042605282100.htm

Sport - Cricket

Bangladesh hopeful of comeback

FATULLAH: Bangladesh wants to make a comeback and win the second one-dayer against Australia, the team's captain Habibul Bashar said on Tuesday.

``We want to come back,'' Bashar said during practice on the eve of the second match against Australia. ``Our target is to complete 50 overs and go for a win.''

Bangladesh — which hopes to repeat last year's shock win over Australia at Cardiff — lost the first one-dayer on Sunday by four wickets, after being bowled out for a paltry 195 runs in 47 overs.

But Australia had to fight hard for 44 overs to reach the target — losing six wickets.

``We were close to a win,'' Bashar said. ``Maybe 20 more runs would have made the difference.''

Bashar, Bangladesh's most prolific batsman, admitted that the batting order was repeating the same mistakes, which needed to be fixed.

``We have to remedy that and make less mistakes,'' Bashar said. ``We play well sometimes, we need to gain self-belief that we can play well consistently.''

Ashraful rested

Bangladeshi selectors, meanwhile, rested Mohammad Ashraful and swing bowler Syed Rasel from the final 12 for Wednesday's clash. They were replaced with all-rounder Alok Kapali, who missed the first match with injury, and pacer Shahadat Hossain.

The teams:

Bangladesh (from): Habibul Bashar (capt.), Khaled Mashud, Javed Omar, Shahriar Nafees, Rajin Saleh, Aftab Ahmed, Alok Kapali, Tushar Imran, Mohammad Rafique, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Abdur Razzak and Shahadat Hossain.

Australia (from): Ricky Ponting (capt.), Adam Gilchrist, Nathan Bracken, Michael Clarke, Daniel Cullen, Brad Hogg, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Simon Katich, Brett Lee, Andrew Symonds, James Hopes, Mark Cosgrove and Brett Dorey. — AP