The Daily Star carries daily news and opinion from Bangladesh and around the world.

Wills Cup: Holding returns to Dhaka

Our Sports Reporter
20 October 1998



West Indies fast bowling legend Michael Holding will arrive in the capital tomorrow morning in his capacity as a TV commentator at the Wills International Cup scheduled to start at the Bangabandhu National Stadium from October 24.

Holding will be the first of six WorldTel commentators. The others are former England captains Geoffrey Boycott and Tony Greig, South African batting great Barry Richards, former New Zealand captain and batting maestro Martin Crowe and former Indian skipper Ravi Shastri.

Shastri who was also a member of the WorldTel team in the Coca-Cola Independence Cup last January, is coming on October 22 while Barry Richards and Martin Crowe are due the following day.

Boycott is expected on October 26.

Meanwhile, a 65-member WorldTel crew will start arriving from today.

The American-based TV company will use 18 cameras this time, four more than they did during the Independence Cup.

'Black Caps' due today

The 19-member New Zealand team, who will feature in the only pre-quarterfinal against Zimbabwe on the inaugural day, will be arriving tonight.

The 'Black Caps', led by Stephen Fleming, will be the third team to arrive after Zimbabwe and England.

Team: Stephen Fleming (captain), Geoff Allott, Mark Bailey, Simon Doull, Matthew Horne, Shayne O'Connor, Alex Tait, Paul Wiseman, Nathan Astle, Matthew Bell, Chris Harris, Craig McMillan, Adam Parore (wicketkeeper) and Daniel Vettori.

Officials: Steve Rixon (coach), John Graham (manager), Mark Harrison (physio), Ashley Ross (technical advisor) and Gillbert Enoka (player coordinator).

Practice Sessions

England and Zimbabwe had two practice sessions each at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

Although, both teams were due to use the Dhanmondi Cricket Stadium and Sultana Kamal Women's Sports Complex ground respectively, event manager Asif Iqbal informed the press that the three practice venues including the BUET ground, will require another two to three days to be ready. Asif added in case of rain, they might consider allowing all teams to practice at the National Stadium.

After light warm-up sessions in the morning the England players indulged themselves into their national pastime - football while the Zimbabweans preferred rugby to sweat it out.

Both teams had net practice in the evening under the newly-installed floodlights.

England, who will meet South Africa in the quarterfinal on October 25, will play two practice matches against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh at BKSP on October 21 and 23.

The matches will start everyday at 9.30 am.


Source: The Daily Star, Bangladesh
Editorial comments can be sent to The Daily Star at webmaster@dailystarnews.com
help@cricinfo.com