It was a long day for scribes and spectators alike at the Nehru Stadiumin Indore. The visiting Zimbabweans did not think it necessary to make asporting declaration and thereby a match of this game. A complete farceensued, one in which the Zimbabwe batsmen carried out net practicein the middle. Earlier in the day, National Cricket Academy skipperReetinder Sodhi was hopeful of an early declaration by the Zimbabweans. He said the NCA team would go after the target, even if the asking rate was around six runs per over. As it turned out, all that was unnecessary.India also have an irritating habit of bringing batsmen out of a leanpatch. Trevor Madondo certainly benefited from this brand ofhospitality. After playing a shaky knock in the first innings, Madondogot his eye in well in his second essay. Stroking the ball around thepark, Madondo had a good look at a subcontinent wicket. He made 65before playing all over a straight ball from Vidyuth Sivaramakrishnan.Having lost out in the first innings, Andy Flower came in next and hedisplayed what a class player he is. Never in any trouble, Flower workedthe ball into the gaps with ease. After making 119 runs, (180balls, 14 fours) he decided that he had had enough of the Indore heat.Retiring ill, he returned to the comfort of the pavilion and wasreplaced by acting skipper Guy Whittall.Stuart Carlisle (39) and Guy Whittall (36 not out) gained a bit ofexperience batting in Indian conditions. Just when it looked likeZimbabwe would quietly play out the day, they surprised everyone bydeclaring their innings closed at 320/5. This left NCA with a hugelyimprobable, and almost statistically impossible, target of 320 off 11overs. Sridharan Sriram was obviously quite content with his knock inthe first innings. In his place, stumper Ajay Ratra opened the inningswith Nikhil Doru.Although Ratra was trapped leg before by Henry Olonga it was really ofno consequence. Gautam Gambhir worked the bowling around for an elegant22 runs while Doru managed 12 not out. NCA had 42/1 and the match endedin a dull draw.After the NCA lads had declared their innings having secured a lead ofjust 1 run, one expected Zimbabwe to think on similar lines. Althoughthat would have made for maximum viewing pleasure, one really cannotfault the Zimbabweans for their tactics. They are not here to give theNCA boys a shot at victory against an international side. They are herefor the far more serious business of winning a Test series againstIndia. They did all they could to prepare themselves for the same.Speaking to scribes after the game, acting skipper Guy Whittall said,”We batted almost the whole day because we wanted to shift from theOne-Day mode to the Test mode. The Test matches here are the highestpriority for us and we wanted to prepare as well as we could for that.”When asked why he declared when he did, leaving the NCA boys elevenovers to face, he added, “Henry Olonga didn’t get much of a bowl in thefirst innings. We just wanted to give him another go.” That wrapped up amatch that left the NCA boys emptyhanded, the Zimbabweans moreexperienced in Indian conditions and a majority of spectators just plainbored.

The rain interrupted Tamil Nadu-Kerala South Zone Ranji Trophy encounter atKochi ended in a draw even as the visiting side claimed five points aftertaking the first innings lead. This meant that Tamil Nadu topped the SouthZone standings with 26 points ahead of Hyderabad (25) and Karnataka (24).By topping the South Zone standings, Tamil Nadu have retained the MDSoundararajan Trophy.Resuming on 204/4, Tamil Nadu declared their innings closed at 251/9 afterC Hemanth Kumar completed his century. Hemanth Kumar’s 101 (423 minutes,317 balls, 5 fours) ended as the top score of the match. CP Menon with 4/44off 14 overs was the pick of the Kerala bowlers. Tamil Nadu gained a leadof 45 runs.In their second essay, Kerala once again struggled against legspinner WDBalaji Rao. The former Railways tweaker claimed 4/60 as Kerala were reducedto 167/6 when the match ended. For the hosts, only MP Sorab (61) and AjayKudua (46) batted for some length of time.

The big surprise of the day at the NatWest Series game between Australia and Pakistan at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, yesterday, came when the Australian team sheet was made public. On the list was one Number 58, Brett Lee.Although it was known to all and sundry that Lee, who hadn’t bowled competitively since an elbow operation in February, was training with the Australian team in England, he was not chosen as a member of the one-day squad and was expected to commence his playing comeback in a Second XI game for Nottinghamshire next week.Lee’s return to the Australian team was fast-tracked, however, after injuries to Nathan Bracken (shoulder), Jason Gillespie (hamstring) and Damien Fleming (calf muscle) made the new-ball situation in the one-dayers desperate.

In the end, despite Australia’s easy victory, it was not the happiest of matches for Lee. His ten overs brought one wicket – that of Shahid Afridi – but cost 85 runs. This set a new record as the most expensive ten overs by an Australian bowler in one-day international history. (The world record for ten overs is 97 runs by Asantha de Mel for Sri Lanka in the 1987 World Cup, while New Zealand’s Martin Snedden conceded 105 runs in 12 overs in the 1983 World Cup.)Lee’s last four overs went for 48 runs as Pakistan made their dramatic late-order fightback. A more unfortunate statistic is that Lee has conceded 157 runs in 18 overs in his last two ODI appearances, including the game against Zimbabwe on February 4 where he suffered the elbow injury that required an operation.Following the Cardiff game yesterday, the Australian camp announced that Andy Bichel would join the squad until Bracken, Gillespie and Fleming had recovered from their injuries. Bichel is playing for Worcestershire in county cricket this season, and in eight limited-over appearances to date has taken 13 wickets at 21.23 from 77 overs – and scored a century batting at number three.

Notts easily defeated Suffolk by nine wickets to advance to the fourth Round of the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy. After dismissing the Minor County for just 87 inside 33 overs earlier in the day Notts coasted to victory for the loss of just one wicket.The first meeting between the two counties for 14 years followed a similar pattern to the 1987 clash at Trent Bridge. On that occasion Notts bowled out the opposition for just 94, with Notts’ current Cricket Manager Clive Rice picking up 4–19.Mildenhall 2001 saw the home side lose a wicket in the first over to Greg Smith and then collapse alarmingly once former England bat Bill Athey had been dismissed for 22.The last nine wickets fell for just 45 runs in only 19 overs. Smith picked up four of the wickets to fall but conceded the bowling honours to man of the match Richard Logan, who on his first appearance for six weeks after a shoulder injury, took 5–24 from his 10 overs.Apart from Athey’s contribution the only Suffolk batsmen to reach double figures were opener Russell Catley, who batted 20 overs for his 17, South African international David Callaghan and bowler Richard Pineo, who each scored 11.Kevin Pietersen, on his 21st birthday, took two catches at slip for Notts and ‘keeper Chris Read added another two.The disappointingly small home crowd had only the afternoon sunshine to enjoy as Notts cruised to victory, helped by the addition of 13 wides and no–balls inside the first eight overs.Darren Bicknell had a slice of good fortune on 14 when he edged Callaghan but ‘keeper Chris Warn flung himself across in front of the slips and spoiled the opportunity for everyone as he parried it to safety.Guy Walton, desperately short of runs in recent weeks, again looked uncomfortable and had only made 13 in 18 overs when he pushed at Andy Poole and was easily claimed by Warn.Bicknell and Greg Blewett, together with the ever–steepling extras count, took Notts to victory in just 22 overs. Bicknell’s flowing cover drive off Poole clinching the win and lifting his personal score to 48.

Justin Langer is racing against time to be fit for the Australians’ final warm-up game before the First Test at Edgbaston next Thursday.Batsman Langer was hit on the wrist while fielding in the tour game against the MCC at Arundel yesterday.The wrist is now swollen and it is doubtful whether he will even be able to hold a bat before tomorrow when the Australians take on Essex at Chelmsford.Langer will be desperate to play following a meagre return of four runs in two innings at Arundel.Team physiotherapist Errol Alcott decided an X-ray was unnecessary for Langer and is confident the Western Australian will be fit.”The wrist is very swollen but it has a good range of movement,” saidAlcott. “He will survive.”The swelling has actually gone down a little and he’s got the colour back inhis face – he was a bit pale for a while.”It’s moving very well. It’s one of those impact injuries when the softtissues get squeezed by the ball.”It will be pretty sore today and we will have to work on it solid for him tofeel comfortable.”The decision on whether Langer plays will depend on how much discomfort he feels when gripping the handle.”I think we will have to wait until the morning of the game to see aboutthat,” added Alcott. “I am confident about it, put it that way.”Openers Michael Slater and Matthew Hayden will also search for form againstEssex while Adam Gilchrist, who will captain the side, Mark Waugh, RickyPonting, Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee are all likely to return.

She’s been described as the female Brett Lee. As the world’s fastest bowler in women’s cricket Cathryn Fitzpatrick keeps getting asked the same question. How fast?

So, how fast does the blonde-cropped Victorian bowl? “I don’t know!” she exclaims. “Nobody comes down with radars. It’s not like the guys when it’s flashed up on the screen.” When pressed she admits, “As a rough gauge 120km/hour would be close to the mark.”That’s 75 mph, and Fitzpatrick reckons they are “sometimes a bit quicker.” No wonder England captain Clare Connor looked aghast when beaten for pace and bowled through the gate when going well in the most recent Test between the Ashes enemies.What’s even more impressive is the movement and accuracy the postal worker creates. A Second Test opening spell of 12 overs, two for 12 against England suggests she has stamina too. She later polished off the tail, to record figures of 22.5 overs 5/31.When Fitzpatrick spoke to CricInfo after that performance at Headingley, she was unaware of her analysis, and not too happy at the way she bowled. “I didn’t feel comfortable initially. I was slipping a bit at first.” Sawdust sorted that to help produce her outstanding analysis. But it was not her best in Tests. That was a bag of 5/29 in the previous week’s innings victory at Shenley.Fitzpatrick has made just eight Test appearances, and now has 29 wickets at 22.17.”We don’t play a lot of Tests so it’s easy to keep up with statistics,” she says. One interesting fact is such has been Australia’s dominance when they do play Tests, Fitzpatrick has never been required to bat in a Test match.Indeed it is Australia’s first Test series since their 3-0 whitewash of England in 1998, when Fitzpatrick was top wicket taker with 13 at 31.76. In this series she already has the same number in just three innings at a cost of 7.15.In contrast, since making her debut against India in 1991, the right-armer has played 54 One-Day Internationals and has taken 76 wickets before coming to England this summer. This puts her third on the all-time list, following closely behind opening partner Charmaine Mason and New Zealand’s Catherine Campbell.While her aim for fast-bowling speed and well-balanced action is easily comparable with the wannabe 100mph man Lee, a better comparison in Australian sport would be Olympic gold-medallist Cathy Freeman.Freeman, despite “having a little bit higher profile than me,” also spearheads women’s representation in a male-dominated sport.The Aboriginal sprinter is sponsored by the Postal Service. Fitzpatrick works as a motorbike dispatch rider for them.Having achieved so much, Fitzpatrick, at 33, is still enjoying the game.”If I’m enjoying it I’ll keep playing,” she told CricInfo. “We’ve got a good blend of young and old. I don’t know how it would be if it was a very young side and I was the oldest,” she added.”I’ve never played in South Africa and I’d really love that,” she admitted. “It is coming up for the World Cup.” So, in January 2005, don’t be surprised to see the fastest woman in the world trying to win the trophy back for the Australians.

England look certain to ditch the seven-batsmen policy for the Third npower Test in the knowledge that they must bowl Australia out twice if they are to have any chance of winning the Ashes.So far England have captured only 22 of the tourists’ wickets in the first two Tests so know they face a tall order. Their task is made no easier by the absence of skipper Nasser Hussain who, as expected, failed to recover in time from his broken finger. Once again, Michael Atherton will lead the side.In order to lend variety to the support bowling for Darren Gough and Andy Caddick, the selectors have added the names of Alex Tudor and Robert Croft to the squad for the Trent Bridge Test.Chris Silverwood is again named in the squad so it looks like a toss-up between him and Tudor, though the latter’s batting ability – as scores of 116 and 86 in the CricInfo Championship this summer testify – might make him favourite.For the first time this summer, England are likely to field a spinner and it will be down to Croft to do the donkey work on a flat Trent Bridge wicket.There is a certain irony that on the day Croft was brought back into the squad, his spinning rival Phil Tuffnell captured his 1,000th first-class wicket. In addition, Croft’s record in England – his 13 wickets in 11 matches have cost him 73.23 apiece – is hardly auspicious.However, the selectors feel that Croft offers continuity – a watchword for the current England set-up – after some reasonable performances in Sri Lanka during the winter.”We did not want to make wholesale changes to the squad for this TestMatch,” said chairman of selectors David Graveney.”But we feel we will need more variety in our attack at Trent Bridge and theinclusion of Alex Tudor and Robert Croft will give more bowling options.”Dominic Cork misses out this time as we have decided to go for the extrapace of Alex Tudor, who has performed well for Surrey this season since comingback from injury.”We wanted to show continuity of selection by including Robert Croft as hewas included in the squad earlier in the season and also performed very well onthe winter tour of Sri Lanka.”On the batting side, Usman Afzaal could win the battle with Ian Ward for the number six spot on his home ground, Ward having posted a highest score of only 39 since coming in against Pakistan in May.With Graham Thorpe (broken hand) and Michael Vaughan (knee) both out untilthe Fourth Test at Headingley, Afzaal could stake his claim for an extended run in the side. He is in form, having hit a century for Nottinghamshire in their current Championship game against Derbyshire.Graveney added: “After the last Test match, you have to hold your nerve against a side like Australia.”If you hit the panic button, it not only affects the people you leave out,but other guys that are still in and looking over their shoulders.”Phil Tufnell is always in with a shout for selection, but you also have tolook at the continuity aspect.”Croft did very well in the winter and we brought him back into the squad atEdgbaston and may be with hindsight, we should have played him there.”It was a close call, as was Alan Mullally, but Tudor would have beenselected had he not been coming back from injury for the last Test.”As far as Croft is concerned, Nottingham is a pretty flat wicket and Croftcan beat the bat from both sides. He is likely to have to spend a lot of timebowling overs.”And the fact that the pitch will not spin so much is not something that weare unduly concerned with. He will enable us to use our quicker bowlers in shortspells.”We have to get runs on the board – when we are batting second we are notgetting to 200, and under those circumstances it is very difficult.”We are getting players out at vital times when they have made 30 and 40,they are getting out in clutches, and out before and after intervals.”If you look at the difference between the sides, they have already got twoor three 100s in every Test Match, and we are not getting those scores. At theend of a series, those tallies hurt you.”Graveney also spoke of the injuries which have disrupted both selection andfinal team make-up.He added: “It is up to other people to say how they have affected us, but itis a huge thing to lose your captain.”It is very difficult for guys like Alec (Stewart) and Mike Atherton to comein as captain and try to keep the continuity going.”The injuries are a factor. We have lost five guys for this series alone, andthat affects you in any Test match you play.”Squad: Atherton, Afzaal, Butcher, Caddick, Croft, Gough, Ramprakash, Silverwood, Stewart, Trescothick, Tudor, Ward, White.

Peter Bowler and Mike Burns inspired Somerset to a four-wicket victory over Surrey in the floodlit NUL relegation tussle at Taunton.Belligerent batting from Ali Brown (98) and skipper Adam Hollioake (70) guided the visitors to 236-8 in their 45 overs.But Somerset openers Ian Blackwell and Peter Bowler put on 44 in six overs and they always kept on top of their run-rate thereafter.Bowler led the way with his fifth half-century in the competition this season.He received good support from Matt Wood in a third wicket stand of 49, which ended when Wood cut a catch to wicketkeeper John Batty off Tim Murtagh.Then Burns helped Bowler put on 87 in just 12 overs as Surrey’s attack, who had to contend with a wet ball for part of the innings, were taken apart.Burns twice reverse swept Gareth Batty to the boundary on his way to 53 from 47 balls, with seven fours.Bowler finally fell for 86, with eight fours and a six, when he was caught behind off Ed Giddins in the 39th over.Earlier Ali Brown and Adam Hollioake had taken charge for Surrey with a third wicket partnership of 155 in 24 overs, after Steffan Jones had claimed a double-wicket maiden in the 8th over when Ian Ward was caught at slip and Gareth Batty edged to wicketkeeper Rob Turner.Hollioake struck five fours and a six over the Ian Botham stand, in his 77-ball innings of 70, before Dutch had him stumped by Turner.Brown was on course for his second century in the competition this season when he fell for 98 to a good return catch by left-arm spinner Ian Blackwell.His 89-ball innings included five fours and four sixes, three of which were driven straight over the short county ground boundaries.Surrey, who looked on course for 300 at one stage, ended on 236-8 as Blackwell, in particular, restricted the runs in the closing overs.Blackwell also bowled Gary Butcher behind his legs and had Ben Hollioake caught by Dutch at long off in a six over spell of 3-16.

Tomorrow sees the start of a biblical encounter at Harare Sports Club as Zimbabwe take on South Africa, with David having suffered serious reverses in the artillery department that enabled him to win his original battle three thousand years ago.Zimbabwe are severely handicapped by the loss of Heath Streak’s three leading pace-bowling assistants during the winter series: Brighton Watambwa, Andy Blignaut and Bryan Strang. True, South Africa have lost Allan Donald, but they were preparing for life without him anyway. The treadmill of modern cricket is wearing down players, especially pace bowlers. Zimbabwe players have had only the months of May and August free from international cricket in the past year – even then they were in training for the next series – and it is a source of relief that Heath Streak’s suspect knee has not yet seriously rebelled against the pressure.The selectors could have brought together, instead, the trio of pacemen that brought Zimbabwe successive Test victories against India and Pakistan three years ago. Streak and Henry Olonga opened the bowling with fire, while Pommie Mbangwa tied up the batsmen superbly while they rested. Had any one of these three been missing on those two occasions, Zimbabwe would almost certainly not have won.Olonga was in the squad and reported fit, but he has not played much cricket for several months and was not at his best. Mbangwa was not in the squad; selectorial policy during the last year, though, has been to prefer pace and the potential to bowl wicket-taking deliveries to accuracy, and Mbangwa appears to have fallen badly out of favour without doing much wrong. Gary Brent is another medium-pacer who served the country well in the past but has seemingly been forgotten. Preference was given to the greater pace of Travis Friend, while Doug Hondo is set to make his Test debut. Last season Hondo took eight wickets at 40 each in five first-class matches, and will be under pressure to prove that he merits a place.The batsmen are all fit – at the time of writing – with Andy Flower’s hand having made good progress without being completely right; he is such a valuable player, though, that he was always certain to play barring accidents. Tatenda Taibu was in the squad, however, were it to be decided that Flower could not keep wicket.For once the selectors had a problem in which of their batsmen to leave out. Of the first six in the order, Alistair Campbell, the two Flowers and Guy Whittall are long-established players and permanent fixtures when fit. Hamilton Masakadza could hardly be dropped after his debut century against West Indies. That left room for two out of Dion Ebrahim, who has been opening with Campbell in recent Tests, Stuart Carlisle, returned from injury, and Craig Wishart, who showed the best form of the three during the winter. Carlisle, a fixture throughout last year and the man whose fighting innings won that crucial Second Test against India, was the man genuinely unfortunate to be left out. Had he not broken his finger in the field against West Indies, Masakadza would not have been given a chance.If the pitch is prepared to suit the home side, it will probably be pretty flat with any intentional help to be given to the spinners rather than the pacemen. Memories are still fresh of that disaster two years ago when the pitch was watered too much overnight, giving an inordinate advantage to the team that won the toss. In such situations, as Napoleon observed, God is on the side of the big battalions, and the South African pacemen enjoyed an early Christmas. Zimbabwe have only one specialist spin bowler in their squad, though, with Raymond Price selected instead of leg-spinners Brian Murphy, still not fully fit from his ankle injury, and Paul Strang.Little need be said of the South African team, except that their ability to steamroll weaker sides has never been in doubt. But we need no computer analyst to find a pattern in each of Zimbabwe’s last five Test series (two matches each), since April last year, excluding that against newcomers Bangladesh. In the first match of all five series, Zimbabwe have lost, mainly due to poor batting, with seven wickets being the smallest margin of defeat. Then, in the Second Test, they have fought back strongly, defeating India, drawing three times, and only New Zealand have been able to force home a second victory.The players will have to guard against a repetition of that pattern against South Africa. It will not be easy to do better, as they are a stronger team than any of the others Zimbabwe have played in the last 18 months. They would appear to have no hope of victory – but that was what everybody said before that famous World Cup match of 1999 at Chelmsford.Both teams are perhaps less well-prepared than they would have liked, although Zimbabwe have been in training for the past three weeks. With Carl Rackemann in Australia, former national coach Dave Houghton has been in charge of the cricketing side. Captain Heath Streak said that they had a good practice match last week and had been working hard in the nets.Zimbabwe are very respectful of South Africa, he said, adding: “But I believe that if we can put together a team effort we certainly have a chance to give them a scare and win a game.” It will always be unlikely, and Zimbabwe’s best chance is if the South Africans become subconsciously overconfident. But if the Zimbabweans all play to their potential they have the ability to give any team in the world a tough game.South Africa has traditionally been the team Zimbabweans have supported over the years, apart from their own. This stems from the years, prior to independence in 1980, when Rhodesian cricket, as it was then, was part of the South African Currie Cup – as it was then! Players from this country, like Colin Bland, John Traicos and Jack du Preez – now the only former Rhodesian and South African player still living in Zimbabwe – played Test cricket for South Africa.That is no longer the case, for a variety of reasons. Despite the proximity of the two countries, there is a widespread feeling that South Africa have not supported Zimbabwean cricket as well as they should have. Tomorrow’s match will be only the fourth Test between the two countries – of the senior Test-playing countries, only Australia have played Zimbabwe less frequently. In one-day cricket, South Africa stand at the bottom of the list among Zimbabwe’s more senior Test-playing opponents, with a mere 12 meetings between the sides.While the Zimbabwe Board XI participates in the UCBSA Bowl competition, promotion to the SuperSport series has been denied again, although at least they have been accepted for the one-day provincial series next season. And although South Africa are very keen for touring teams to play against their development sides, they did not want to play any warm-up matches against young Zimbabwean players.Another factor is the perceived arrogance of many of the South African players. Several Zimbabweans have commented on how difficult it is to get to know them off the field of play, in contrast to the Australians, who are always friendly off the field, however much they may try to kill them on it. Andy Flower feels he made a little progress towards improving relationships between the teams during his recent term as captain, but there is clearly much work to be done.So Zimbabwe will be especially keen to come out from under the shadow of their powerful southern neighbour and at least earn more respect for their deeds on the field. The matches should be well supported by the public, and perhaps the South Africans may yet win back some of the affection they have lost in Zimbabwe in recent years.There has been talk in certain quarters of cancelling tours to Zimbabwe in view of the political state of the country, but this would only hurt the cricketing community without affecting those causing the crisis. There has also been concern about the safety of the players, but this is needless, as they will not be visiting any parts of the country where they could be endangered. Despite the background, there is every reason to expect that this tour will take place as peacefully as every other tour to the country and that the South Africans will enjoy their stay – but Zimbabweans hope not too much on the field of play.Zimbabwe team for the First Test: Alistair Campbell, Dion Ebrahim, Hamilton Masakadza, Craig Wishart, +Andy Flower, Grant Flower, Guy Whittall, *Heath Streak, Travis Friend, Raymond Price, Douglas Hondo.

Aminul Islam is one of the stars of the Bangladesh cricket team. Theright-handed batsman, who captained Bangladesh in the 1999 World Cup, spoketo CricInfo during their recent tour of Sri Lanka.”It’s a nice place to be and a lovely place to play cricket. My previousvisit was in 1997 and it’s good to be here,” he enthused. “This side is oneof the best in the business and I am glad to be playing against them.”Even though Bangladesh were soundly beaten in the inaugural Test Matchbetween the two countries (as has happened in all the five Test Matches theyhave played in so far) Aminul, who’s popularly known as Bulbul, believestheir cricket is on the right path.”I feel we are heading in the right direction,” says the 33-year-old. “We’vegot a good structure, which is very important. The Board has done well tohire good Sri Lankan coaches over there. We might lose Test Matches bythumping margins, but that doesn’t matter as long as we learn things. Slowlywe’ll draw matches and in five or ten years time hopefully we can regularlywin.”He made his ODI debut in 1988 and from then on Bangladesh has played 40one-games and he’s missed just two of them due to injury. During the longcareer he’s also captained Bangladesh before they achieved Test status,”I have enjoyed my captaincy to the core,” says Aminul. “The two victoriesin the World Cup were so special and so were the wins in the warm up gamesagainst Essex and Middlesex.”And among those wins for this stylish batsman the victory against Pakistanin the 1999 World Cup was the greatest achievement, “The victory againstPakistan was like winning the World Cup for us.”Aminul feels that the win gave him greater self-belief, “Whenever I am downI go back to that moment and it gives me so much of confidence. After all,if we can beat Pakistan then we can beat anyone in the world.”When the country was granted Test status he lost his job to Naimur Rahmanwho had the honour of captaining Bangladesh in the Inaugural Test Match. Butno one could steal the limelight from Aminul as he made a classy 145 againstIndia on debut. That was the third highest score by a player on debut.”That 145 against India was a memorable innings and undoubtedly my bestknock,” he believes. “Firstly, it was a historical Test and secondly I wasout of form at the time. I was lucky to play in that Test and I am glad thatI made the most out of the opportunity.””I now want to play at least 25 Test Matches and then I’ll see how thingsare going for me and retire. When I retire I want to work as a coach in mycountry. This country has given me so much and it’s my duty to givesomething back.”