Habibul out to bash England
Times Online and agencies Habibul Bashar, the Bangladesh captain, has hit back at the doubters who have questioned his team's right to be in the Super Eight and insisted victory against England could put them on track for the last four.
Basher has led his country to historic wins over India and South Africa during this year's tournament, and has now targeted Michael Vaughan's side, who they face in Barbados on Wednesday.
"We have a good chance to make the semi-finals if we can beat England," he said. "The English team has some good players but they are not playing well in the World Cup. So it will not be impossible to beat them."
Bashar also hit out at the critics who claim that the elimination of India and Pakistan was bad for the tournament.
"It seems that at any cost India and Pakistan should be included in the Super Eight," he added. "They are not mentioning that India and Pakistan lost two out of their three first round matches. If this attitude persists, one should organise a 'Top Ranking Cup' instead of the World Cup, where the teams will play according to their rankings.
"The World Cup is not the property of one or two teams. It belongs to everyone and the best team will win the cup. Instead of spoiling the show, Bangladesh have made the World Cup more interesting. There are now plenty of teams fighting for the semi-finals."
Mohammad Ashraful
He is only 22 but is already regarded as the countrys best batsman. His name is also associated with three of the outstanding feats accomplished by a Bangladesh batsman. For starters at the age of 17 he became the youngest from any country to make a Test century. This was against Sri Lanka in 2001-2002 at Colombo when he hit 114 in a losing cause. Making light of an attack that included Muthiah Muralitharan Ashraful caught the eye with his dashing batsmanship and was hailed as a star. But after this heady start he endured a string of disappointing scores and was dropped when England toured Bangladesh in 2003-2004. He was back against India the following season when again in a losing cause he hit a glorious undefeated 158 at Chittagong. Wisden was gushing in praise.Ashraful played the innings of the tour. His forthright biffing of the fast bowlers "hooking while hopping on one leg a la Gordon Greenidge" and his effervescent thwacking of the spinners got the crowd to its feet. He raced to his 50 from 70 balls then needed just 55 more to reach his second Test century going from 76 to three figures with seven consecutive scoring shots. If anything that spurred him on for he unfurled such authoritative and audacious strokes that India were forced to spread the field to him, close it in to his partners and hope for a mistake. The mistake never came from Ashraful who scored 158 not out from only 194 balls with 24 fours and three sixes beating the previous best by Bangladesh "Aminul Islams 145 in the inaugural Test also against India".A few months later he confirmed his rising stature with a brilliant 100 that set up Bangladeshs astonishing victory over Australia in the NatWest series at Cardiff.
this guy is amaizing with the bat almost like some cricket martial arts
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Sajid Mahmood
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