Home / Sports / Long list for HP programme

Long list for HP programme

24Sports Reporter : Dominated by a bulk of promising cricketers, a 22-member High Performance (HP) squad was announced yesterday in Mirpur. Beside the main squad, a list of players was also revealed under an ‘elite programme’ which will deal with pace bowling, batting, wicketkeeping and spin bowling.
The newly-designed HP programme will begin its journey in a bid to keep the players fit and ready for international cricket. The programme, which last took place between 2004 and 2007, is going to be revived after a gap of eight years.
Previously, the programme was operated under the game development committee; but this time it will be run by a separate standing committee headed by BCB vice-president Mahbub Anam. To run this programme for the 2015-16 season, a budget of 1 million dollars has been proposed.
Stuart Karppinen, who worked as the physical performance manager of the Bangladesh Cricket Board for the last two years, has been named the general manager of the programme; a role similar to the one that Richard McInnes performed during the last stint.
Former English batsman Mal Loye, who will arrive in Dhaka this week, has been appointed as the HP team’s head coach for the next two years while Paul Terry has been appointed as the director of coaching.
The coaches, who will run the elite programme, include Sarwar Imran (fast bowling), Zafrul Ehsan (batting), Wahidul Ghani (spin bowling) and Mohammad Mortaza (fielding and wicketkeeping).
Describing the programme, Anam informed that the selected 22 players will train for four months from June to September, while the elite programme will run throughout the year.
The elite programme includes an 18-member pace bowling squad which has the names of all the well known pacers from Bangladesh’s domestic circuit, including ODI skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and Rubel Hossain.
The 10-member spin bowling squad has witnessed the return of Shohag Gazi. However, there was no room for veterans Abdur Razzak and Elias Sunny. The 20-member batting squad includes the likes of Shahriar Nafees, Naeem Islam, Rokibul Hasan but ignored Alok Kapali, who has recently been in good touch.
“Let’s start the programme first. There are still many things to be sorted out and the system can be improved. We may include more players if needed. It’s not possible to take everyone. We have to focus on certain priorities,” said chief selector Faruque Ahmed, who along with his two colleagues selected the players for the HP programme.

HP SQUAD
Rony Talukdar, Liton Kumar, Shadman Islam, Tasamul Haque, Mahmudul Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Musaddek Hossain, Mohammad Mithun, Taibur Rahman, Jubair Hossain, Saqlain Sajib, Nihad Uz Zaman, Nasum Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Abu Jayed, Shubasish Roy, Mehede Hasan Rana, Kamrul Islam, Dewan Shabbir Ahmed, Nurul Hasan, Jabid Hossain, Irfan Shukkur.