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Axe hangs on Ash

Bisuwajit Roy
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is likely to sack under-performing Mohammad Ashraful from captaincy' after the heartbreaking performance of the ligers in the ICC World Twenty20 in England.
Bangladesh crashed out of the tournament from the first round after conceding a stunning defeat against Ireland.
The Board will take a decision on the captaincy in the next couple of days. And if the Board takes such decision then Ashraful will be at the mercy of the selectors for a place in the West Indies-bound team as a player.
"1 don't find any reason to continue him [Mohammad Ashraful) as the captain when even his position as a player in the team is not certain. He got a bonus' time when we extended his tenure despite the fact that he was not perfonning. But he failed to capitalise on the chances," said BCB director Gazi Ashraf Hossain yesterday.
’Just forget what his performances are as a batsman since he has taken over the captaincy but the way he got out in the crucial match against Ireland is good enough to send him to a rehabilitation programme," the former national skipper fumed.
The game's administrators are also thinking on bringing wholesale changes in the team management including the selectors, coaches and the manager.
BCB’s another director and spokesman Jalal Yunus also echoed the sentiment of Gazi Ashraf and said that time has come to evaluate everything including the performances of coaches, other team officials and selectors to save cricket in the country.
"I think more or less everybody's [directors! feeling the same regarding the captaincy issue. No way can we continue him as the captain. Hope a decision would be on it's way about the captaincy soon. Not only captain we are also looking forward to give a long look at everybody's performance because nobody has the right to jeopar dise Bangladesh cricket," said Yunus adding that the downward trend in die national team performance also decreased the market value.
The 24 year-old Ashraful was appointed captain in June 2007 and the job was extended in February this year until die conclusion of the tour ofWest Indies in July-August but now there are slim chances for him to complete his extended tenure. Bangladesh cricket team will fly for the Caribbean on June 29 to play oneT20, three GDIs and two fests.
Gazi Ashraf also said that rime has come to assess the performance of coach Jamie Siddons, whose two-year tenure will end in November this year, as he found hardly any improvement in die Tigers batting under the Aussie's guidance.
"My personal opinion is that we can send someone to West Indies instead of Jamie [who is now in Australia and expected to join the team in West Indies] and I believe the performance of the team will not get any worse than what we are at the moment," said Ashraf.
"Time has come to evaluate his [Siddons) performance because we are paying huge money. Improving the batting was the main focus behind his appointment but let me put it this way, is their any improvement under his guidance?
"Idon'tthinkour batting has gone anywhere under his guidance rather it is just as erratic as it was earlier. I am ready to accept the criticism if someone wanted to raise his fingers to me because I was involved in his recruitment," he said.
"He raised questions on some issues after the loss to Ireland but my question is, what did he do for the team? He has got a fielding coach but said that his side was the most unfit fielding outfit in the tournament...simply ridiculous," he added.
Gazi Ashraf, a former captain and team manager, was also surprised by the way the team was handled in the ICC World 1\venty20.
"The strategies on the field lacked innovation and courage and it was hard to believe that they were playing TVventy20 cricket They actually didn't try anything. I don't mind with the loss against Ireland because anybody can win in this version any day but what was painful was the team's continuous lack ofintclligence," hccxplained.
"Actually it was not a Twenty20 side. I couldn't understand why they are trying to spoil Rokibul because you should understand that you have to preserve some players like Rokibul for the longer-version. It was not understandable why they ignored Zia (Ziau r Rahman). Why they didn't try with some new players. I don't know whether they can understand the nature of this version. It's the version where you can gamble with some players.
"We didn't want to interfere in the team selection but we were really scared the way the team was handled," he said raising his fingers towards Rafiqul Alam-led selection panel.
Yunus informed that some decisions would come soon to overcome the crisis.
"I think we are already late. We can't afford the team to go down anymore. We don't want few surprising successes rather we have to perform at a certain standard to keep our market value as well as avoid constant criticism," said Yunus.
I hc two BCB officials believe that the environment in the team is like that they arc living in a 'happy family' where whatever happens in the field is immaterial and it is high time to put an end to this.