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Mahmud's primary relief

SPORTS REPORTER
Under-fire Bangladesh captain Khaled Mahmud has been handed a lifeline when the national selectors named him among the 17 probables for the tour of Zimbabwe.
The gutsy campaigner was not the crowd favourite for his performances as a player during the home series against England but the three-man selection panel, headed by Faruque Ahmed, was still impressed by his leadership qualities besides a strong showing
in the current National League as captain of Dhaka.
The primary squad also saw the return of Shahriar Hossain and Mohammad Ashraful. They have been among the runs in Pakistan during the inter-department first-class competitions.
The out-of-favour Shahriar has scored the bulk of the Bangladesh A team's runs in the Patron's one-day Cup and four-day Trophy.
The right-hander, who last played for the Tigers in the Inaugural Test against India in
November 2000,has slammed a double century. Not only that the hero of Bangladesh victory against Pakistan in the 1999 World Cup has scored 234 runs in five innings at an average of 81. He scored 143 runs in his three one-day games with two half-centuries and a top score of 84 against Defence Housing Authority.
Ashraful, the youngest centurion on Test debut, last donned the Test cap during the away series against Pakistan but endured a horrible time making only one fifty during that tour.
He was subsequently dropped for the series against Michael Vaughan's men and told to take a
break before being named in the national second-string squad's visit to Pakistan.
The talented right-hander had a mixed run of form hitting one century in the longer version while scoring highest 55 in the other in three games he played.
There was also room for Ehsanul Haque. Despite not performing with either bat or ball for the A team, Ehasn, who was dumped after the 2003 World Cup, earned a surprise recall.
Off-spinner Jamal Uddin, who
made a surprise one-day debut against England, was overlooked but Faruque said that more players would be included.
"This is not a final one. As you know a number of players are now in Pakistan, so nothing is final with the list," he added.
"We rested Ashraful due to his poor run of form and after a couple of months we have decided to recall him," said Faruque adding that Ashraful's call up was nothing to do with his current form in Pakistan.
While the chief selector was in no doubt about his ability but he defended Ehsanul's inclusion because selectors by saying that they did not want to experiment with new faces as they did in the past.
Bangladesh will land in Zimbabwe on February 10 for their second trip to the southern African nation. They will play two Tests and five one-day internationals. Before that the team will spend two week's as part of their conditioning camp in Namibia starting in the last week of January.
Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore will return from his holidays tomorrow and will start the camp on January 4.
Faruque also explained that due to a shortage of pacemen, they kept faith with experienced right-arm bowler Hasibul Hossain. The selectors are left with little to choose from in the fast bowling department after Narail speedster Mashrafee-bin-Mortuza got injured.
"We have limited bowling options, so we'll have to bank on our experienced players," he said.
Earlier, opener Javed Omar ruled himself out because of a shoulder injury. He is the only Bangladesh batsman to have carried his bat in the Bulawayo Test when last toured Zimbabwe in 2001.
SEE PAGE 14 COL 2 FROM PAGE 13
The selectors also did not select any player from the Under-19 team. The selected players have been asked to report to Whatmore on January 4 at the Bangabandhu National Stadium at 9:30am.
The following players have been called up to attend the preliminary camp for the tour of Zimbabwe:
Khaled Mahmud, Habibul Bashar, Khaled Mashud, Tapash Baishya, Hanna Sarker, Shahriar Hossain, Rajin Saleh, Alok Kapali, Mohammed Ashraful, Ehsanul Haque, Mohammad Selim, Mohammed Rafique, Tareq Aziz Khan, Manjarul Islam Rana, Anwar Hossain Monir, Mushfiqur Rahman, Hasibul Hossain.