The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) yesterday announced the 30-man preliminary squad for the ICC World Cup 2015 in Australia and New Zealand.
Keeping the condition of the host countries in mind, the national selection panel included seven pace bowlers along with two pace-bowling all-rounders in the initial squad. There will, however, be no national camp for the squad due to the ongoing Dhaka Premier League.
The national selection panel will keep their eyes on the Dhaka league and name the final squad of 15 members on the basis of their performance.
Chairman of BCB selection panel Faruk Ahmed said the 30-man squad is an accurate reflection of the resources in hand.
“I believe we have picked the strongest 30 available to us at the moment,” said Faruk through a media release.
“We have concentrated on creating back-ups for every position because it will be a long tournament. We have a good balance in the side with all areas covered,” he added.
Faruk, a former national skipper, said most of the players who have been in or around the national team during the last six or seven months have been named in the initial squad with a noticeable blend of youth and experience.
“The conditions in Australia and New Zealand will be a challenge for all the sub-continental teams including Bangladesh. We cannot create those conditions here and that is why we have selected players based on performances in competitions they have appeared in and our intuition,” Faruk explained.
The final squad is likely to be declared by the first week of January before they depart a month ahead of the event in Australia. Their first warm-up game is against Pakistan at Sydney’s Blacktown Oval on February 9.
Bangladesh are pitted alongside hosts Australia, New Zealand, England, Sri Lanka, Scotland and Afghanistan in Pool A of the mga event.