Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has named a 14-member GP-BCB National Cricket Academy team, which will leave for South Africa on August 4 to play two four-day and three one-day matches, reports UNB.
Suhrawardy Shuvo will lead the side, while Sahagir Hossain Pavel will act as his deputy.
Chief of the three-member selection panel Rafique ul Alam announced the squad at a press conference at the Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium (SBNS) in the city Wednesday.
BCB Game Development Committee chairman Shakil Kasem, Grameephone marketing division director Rubaba Dowla and Academy operations manager Khaled Mahmud Sujon were present.
Terming the present Academy squad as the best possible combination, the chief selector said that six out of 25 Academy players are now in England to play for the Bangladesh A side. So, the squad has been finalized out of the 19 players available here.
Game Development chairman Shakil Kasem said they now look forward to giving more emphasis on the Academy team. "Academy is the boiler room of Bangladesh cricket, because most of the current national players will be out of the side by the next five years and the Academy and Under-19 players are supposed to replace them."
The newly appointed Board member also informed that they would bring former national skippers Habibul Bashar and Khaled Mashud Pilot, and spinner Mohammad Rafique, to share their experience with the Academy players.
He gave an indication that the Academy team would make a tour to Sri Lanka on return from South Africa, with the current players getting preference.
Kasem also informed that the Board has decided in principle to form another selection panel for the Academy and age-level teams, saying that the present three-member selection committee had to take much more pressure to choose different teams.
GP marketing division director Rubaba Dowla expressed hope that the Academy squad would gain skill from the South Africa tour, "no matter if they win or lose."
Earlier, in March 2007, country's leading mobile phone operator Grameenphone struck a partnership with the BCB in setting up the Grameenphone-BCB National Cricket Academy. Under the contract, GP is to provide US$ 150,000 per year to assist in implementing the Academy programmes for five years.
Prior to their departure for South Africa on August 4, the Academy team will play a 40-over per side practice match against the national cricketers on Friday at the SBNS.
The GP-BCB Academy team will open their tour with a four-day match against South Africa Academy team on August 8 at Tukkies 1 in Pretoria. The 2nd four-day match between the two sides will be held August 14-18 at Laudiam, Pretoria.
The three one-day matches between the two Academy teams are slated for August 20 (Dobsonville, Johannesburg), August 22 (Tukkies, Pretoria) and August 24 (Lenasia, Johannesburg).
The Academy team will return home on August 25.
Squad: Suhrawardy Shuvo (captain), Sahagir Hossain Pavel (vice captain), Farhad Hossain, Shamsur Rahman, Marshall Ayub, Nadif Chowdhury, Imrul Kayes, Jahurul Islam, Nasir Hossain, Raihan Uddin, Mahbubul Alam, Shafaq al Zabir, Ziaur Rahman and Delwar Hossain.
Standbys: Arafat Sunny, Mahbub ul Karim, Ashiqul Islam, Nabil Samad and Arafat Salahuddin.
