Bangladesh captain Khaled Mashud made no excuses after his side's dismal campaign in the 2003 World Cup that ended with a 32-run defeat against Kenya at the Wanderers on Saturday.

"We have failed and there is no excuse for that," said Mashud at a post-match briefing on Saturday.

Bangladesh will remember this World Cup for all the wrong reasons. Starting with a stunning 60-run defeat at the hands of minnows Canada at Kingsmead in Durban, Bangladesh completed a deplorable batting performance against the East Africans in Johannesburg.

It was their fifth defeat from six games, which easily could have been their sixth out of six had not rain saved them against the West Indies.

They lost both their matches

against Sri Lanka and South Africa by ten wickets.

It was a story of brittle Bangladesh batting in all their six Pool B games, their highest score being 198 against New Zealand at Kimberly.

But Mashud was not ready to accept that the batting floundered due to the presence of so many young players.

"You cannot blame the younger members of the team. The experienced players like Al-Shahriar, Habibul Bashar, Khaled Mahmud, Mohammed Rafique, Manjurul and myself have also failed," he argued.

He however admitted that Akram Khan was the only batsman who played proper cricket while the rest never cared to build partnerships.

"The score of 217 was always an attainable target on this wicket. But our batsman failed again. I do not blame Al-Shahriar or Ashraful for departing early. But I strongly oppose the way Tushar and Sanwar got out when they should have carried the innings."

But then he feared worst might follow if the Bangladesh Cricket Board failed to take immediate steps to prepare sporting wickets at home and provide uninterrupted outdoor training facilities round the year.

"It will not help if we only train at the docile wickets at the BKSP. We need true wickets and good grounds to practice on.

"Besides, I feel the national cricketers should be allowed to play in competitive domestic events be it the National League or Dhaka League," said Mashud adding that it would help the players improve their mental strength in pressure situations.

Mashud said that he was still adamant on quitting the captaincy.

Before the leaving for South Africa the 26-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman announced that he would be stepping down after the World Cup.

"I will talk to the Board once I return home and then make my final decision," said Mashud.

The team will return home on March 5. Akram Khan, who came as a replacement for injured Mashrafee-bin-Mortuza on February 20, however left yesterday.

He played only two game scoring 13 and 44 respectively.

Team manager ASM Faruque believed the middle-order batsman also proved a point that his experience could helped boost the team's sagging morale.

"Akram showed the others how to bat," referring to his fighting knock of 44 against Kenya.

Faruque observed that except Akram and Mashud, the rest lacked commitment, application and involvement in the game.

A former Mohammedan captain Faruque, who took over the job in Bangladesh's away series in Sri Lanka last year, made no secret of his failure to motivate his side.

"I have nothing to say. Being a part of the team I have also failed."

When asked whether he was

interested to carry on he said the World Cup might be his last assignment.

"I don't think the people will appreciate it after the debacle in the World Cup. But I still believe that this team has the ability to perform far better," said Faruque.

Meanwhile. Kenyan captain Steve Tikolo said that they should be included in the Test arena after their outstanding performance in the World Cup.

"I believe we are capable of playing Test cricket. Though it is up to the ICC to decide, but we have proved strong point with our performance in the World Cup", said Tikolo.

Tikolo however was modest to say that Bangladesh has improved a lot since their victory in the ICC Trophy in 1997.

"We have won the match because we were positive in our approach even we knew that we were not defending a very good total. But at the same time I have noticed an improvement in Bangladesh. You have got some very good batsmen. But they did not get runs," said the elated Kenyan captain.