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Dismissed, not disgraced

Sports Reporter
The Bangladesh Under-19s may not be coming home today with any silverware but they definitely return with heads held high after their performance in the ICC U19 World Cup in Australia.
Anamul Haque's team signed off the tournament with a victory against a strong Pakistan team to finish seventh in the tournament. While it is true that the result was not the best finish for Bangladesh -- they finished fifth in Sri Lanka in 2006 their campaign had sufficient cause for cheer, especially their show of character in bouncing back from a disappointing Asia Cup in Malaysia.
And it was none other than Habibul Bashar who believed that the upcoming cricketers proved their potential throughout the tournament in unfamiliar Australian conditions.
The former Bangladesh captain turned selector, who travelled with the team, was impressed by the way the
young Tigers performed in the tournament, although he was a little upset by the defeat against Australia in the quarterfinal.
“The boys deserved praise because of the way they played in the tournament. But it could have been a different story if they played as per their potential in the quarterfinal against Australia,” said Bashar yesterday.
Bangladesh had an impressive start, reaching 64 for one against the defending champions before being bundled out for 171 in 43 overs, largely because of a middle order collapse. The bowlers brought them back into the fray when Australia slipped to 33 for four but the holders had the last laugh as their middle order clicked to snatch a five-wicket victory.
“We failed to keep the initial momentum which was really frustrating. I think the middle order was fragile all through the tournament due to the conditions which helped the pace bowlers. Generally our middle order play spin in subcontinent conditions but in Australia the pace bowlers dominated all through the innings, which
made the difference," explained Bashar adding that the boys could not overcome the hiccup of losing the match against Australia when they played against England in the fifth place playoffmatch.
“But overall our performance was impressive and there were lots of positives in the young players' performance in the tournament as we reached the second round by beating Sri Lanka and Namibia and then finished the tournament with a victory against a strong Pakistan side,” said excited Bashar.
The Bangladesh Under-19s played much better cricket in the World Cup compared to their poor showing in the Asia Cup where they made a first round exit after losing to Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. They avenged their Asia Cup defeat against Sri Lanka in their World Cup opener but lost to South Africa before beating Namibia in the group stage to reach the Cup competition. Bashar had high praise for the performance of captain Anamul, who hit two hundreds in the tournament.
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“He (Anamul) was simply outstanding. Anamul made it clear that he is of a different calibre and why he was called into the national side. Another opener Liton Das also played brilliandy but as I said our middle order failed to show their potential otherwise the story would be different,” observed Bashar.
Without mentioning any names, the national selector said that there are some players who can make it to the national side but everything would depend on how they progress in the next two to three years.
“There are some talented cricketers like we always see in the U19 sides all over the world but the main thing is that the players work hard to make it,” said the former Bangladesh captain.