Bangladesh Cricket

Gazi works on action in domestic circuit

Sohag Gazi was banned from bowling in international cricket last month
 after his bowling action was ruled to be illegal 

Bangladesh offspinner Sohag Gazi has played his first competitive match after being suspended from bowling in international cricket in October. BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury said that Gazi's appearance, in the Dhaka Premier League match between Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club and Abahani, was part of the process to remedy his bowling action, which has been deemed illegal.

Gazi's last match was in the West Indies where he played the three ODIs but was sent home early to prepare for his first round of testing in Cardiff in September. After the ICC's announcement, it was first decided that Gazi would be sent to Malaysia to train with former Bangladesh fielding coach Mohammad Salahuddin but later he began working under current Bangladesh spin-bowling coach Ruwan Kalpage.

He had travelled with the Bangladesh team to Khulna and Chittagong during the Zimbabwe series to work with Kalpage. He has now gone back to Dhaka to play for the Dhanmondi side. There were two cameras set up at both ends especially for Gazi.

"It is the board's decision to let him play," Nizamuddin said. "He is still working with the coaches. I am not sure if they went to see him but we will have footage of his bowling."

Gazi played an important role in Dhanmondi's narrow win over Abahani, having taken two wickets for 34 runs in eight overs.

Sri Lanka's Sachithra Senanayake has been allowedby the SLC to play domestic cricket after being banned from bowling in July this year, but in his case Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) had him do remedial work in Perth before letting him play in the domestic game.

Mahmudullah falls, Tamim fights on

The resolve of the Bangladesh batsmen has been under question in recent times, and some more arose after early dismissals in both sessions, but Tamim Iqbal restrained half-century kept a disciplined Zimbabwe at bay in Khulna.

A strike-rate of 29.58 is not often associated with Tamim; none of his previous 20 fifty-plus scores have been that slow. He tried hard not to be sucked into expansive drives and a majority of his runs came when the bowlers were frustrated into bowling too straight at him. He collected 72 runs for the second wicket with Mominul Haque and is laying the groundwork for another stubborn partnership with Mahmudullah.

Natsai M'shangwe, the debutant legspinner, was able to combine drift and turn to pose the most threat. The pitch afforded him another weapon in the form of variable bounce. He was particularly threatening against Mahmudullah, whose eagerness to drive through the covers had him playing and missing. But M'shangwe's control against left-handers was not as consistent, to leave him still searching for a maiden Test wicket.

Zimbabwe recognised the importance of the new ball on a flat pitch and worked the batsmen in the off-stump corridor. The ploy had dragged Shamsur a little too far across and the change-up inswinger from Elton Chigumbura halted him in his tracks. The batsman was struck below the knee-roll while on the move and was reprieved by umpire Billy Bowden, but not by DRS.

Half of the first 10 overs were maidens, and two of those on the run preceded the wicket-taking over, but Bangladesh did well not to fall prey to a stagnant scoreboard. The pitch held enough moisture for the seamers to justify the caution from Mominul and Tamim. And the odd ball zipping past the outside edge of a drive on the up was enough of a reminder for them not to worry about a run-rate of 2.13 in the morning.

Not that their natural instincts were completely subdued. Tamim unfurled a stunning cover drive against Chigumbura in the 12th over. Mominul provided an encore of the same shot in the next over against Tendai Chatara, and benefited from a neat clip off his legs when Chigumbura strayed in line.

The seamers caught on to the batsmen settling down and combated that with the odd scrambled seam delivery. Tinashe Panyangara succeeded in getting a back of a length ball to hold up on the pitch and Mominul's punch ended up as a return catch in the ninth over after lunch. Zimbabwe would have been doubly pleased with that wicket considering they did not review an lbw shout against Mominul from M'shangwe that HawkEye revealed would have hit the stumps.

Brendan Taylor, the Zimbabwe captain, would not have much reason to fault his bowlers after Bangladesh had decided to bat. But he had been a lot more critical of his batsmen after the Dhaka Test, which tempted him to remodel his line-up at the cost of a bowler. John Nyumbu, the offspinner, had bowled only 16 overs in the first Test and has been dropped in favour of Malcolm Waller. Brian Chari, with an average of 20.62 in 23 first-class matches, gets a Test debut and has forced Vusi Sibanda to the sidelines. M'shangwe was a straight swap for Tafadzwa Kamungozi.