Cricket

Habibul Bashar and Rajin Saleh have been retained captain and vice-captain for Bangladesh's home series against New Zealand this winter, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) advisor Reaz Al Mamun confirmed yesterday.

Bashar has just returned to training following an injury, which forced him out of the ICC Champions Trophy. Rajin led the Tigers in their two-match England

campaign.

The decision was finalised after the Board's advisory committee meeting at its Gulshan office with president Ali Asghar in the chair.

Mamun added that Manzarul Islam, Nafees Iqbal and Enamul Haque Jr would be included on the Board's national payroll.

Opening batsman Nafees has played four one-day internationals while left-arm spinner Enamul, recovering from an injury, has already made his Test debut. Manzarul, the senior of the trio, has already established his place in both one-day and Test teams.

The BCB advisor added that the

Board is all set to appoint a physio for the national team and trainers for the high performance unit.

The Board is trying to bring back Australian physio Robbie Hunt, who worked with the team during the 1999 World Cup in England. The position fell vacant after Dean Woodford and Justin Cordy both quit recently.

The advisory committee also discussed its stand regarding a possible reduction of Bangla-desh's away series, which will come up for talks during the ICC executive committee meeting in Lahore on October 15-16.