No more writing for Bangladeshi players

CHITTAGONG – Bangladesh’s World Cup cricketers have been told to stop writing newspaper columns during the tournament after controversy arose over comments by its skipper Shakib Al Hasan in a newspaper.

Manzur Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, said Tuesday the decision has been imposed.In a recent column in a Bengali-language daily, Shakib criticised former players who slammed the national team for its poor performance against West Indies in a Group B match.Shakib said that the former players should look at their own modest records.Bangladesh made the fourth lowest score of 58 in a World Cup on Friday when they met West Indies. In reply, West Indies lost only one wicket and needed 12,2 overs to reach 59.The humiliation sparked criticism from former cricket players who attacked the Bangladesh team, saying it seemed there was no plan in place for the match against West Indies.It enraged Shakib, who hit back in his column in the Prothom Alo daily, saying that the former players should look at their own record from their days.Manzur Ahmed, chief executive officer of Bangladesh Cricket Board, said Tuesday they imposed the decision and were now working on guidelines for the players.’I think they are not writing anymore,’ Ahmed told The Associated Press by phone. ‘We are working on this, let us follow our way to deal with this,’ he said.Shakib said he feels ‘really bad’ when he sees former cricketers talk like common fans.’They have gone through this kind of situation a lot,’ his column says. ‘You can see in the record books who did what,’ he wrote.Many of the former players were unhappy with Shakib’s language.Former Bangladesh captain Roquibul Hassan said Shakib’s comments ‘show a great level of audacity’.’We criticize when they do bad, and we appreciate when they perform well,’ he said.’Particularly, Shakib’s captaincy in the second game against Ireland was great. We praised him for the plan and its execution. But against West Indies, it seemed they did not have any plan in place.’’This is too bad that he talks like that,’ he added.Khaled Mahmud, another former captain, said given the current training and other facilities the country expects better performances from the national team.’They should accept the criticism,’ he said. ‘They know better what we have done for cricket with limited facilities,’ he said.Bangladesh lost the tournament opener against India by 87 runs while it won by 27 runs against Ireland.Bangladesh,with two points, meets England in Chittagong on Friday in its fourth Group B game.- Nampa-AP