Saturday 4 August 2007

Boot camp for Tigers ahead of Twenty20 World Cup

Bangladeshi cricketers will go through an "Australian style boot camp" next week in the north-eastern Sylhet division under a special military unit as part of their warm up campaign for the Twenty20 World Cup.

The boot camp will last for six days and will be supervised by the "Special warfare unit" of the Bangladesh army. The camp will start on 11 August and will only include players selected for the Twenty20 World Cup to be held in South Africa in September 2007. National selectors will announce the 15 member squad from the provisional squad of thirty on 9 August.

Gazi Ashraf Hossain Lipu, former Bangladesh captain and now chairman of the cricket operations committee of BCB's new ad hoc committee is hoping to bring out the best inn the players through intensive training programmes.

"This training is for gaining fitness and getting harder as quickly as possible as they will go through a strenuous routine during the camp. An Army unit will be in charge of the players," he said.

Pace spearhead Masharfe Mortaza is spared from the camp due to a minor ankle injury and to attend his ailing wife.

Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful, who went through a similar camp under Gordon Greenidge, believes the camp will help in building mental toughness of the players:

"We once did it in Cox's Bazar with Gordon Greenidge. I don't remember much but I still recall that doing our regular workouts on sand was tougher. We need this type of exercises because it will naturally make us stronger mentally and physically, "said Ashraful.

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