Daily Star down but not out

Cricket has always been the weak link of The Daily Star and this year it was no exception. Despite having a new captain and a set of fresh blood The Daily Star stumbled to a 30-run defeat against The Inqilab in their opening group league match of the Pepsi Media cricket tournament at the Maulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium yesterday.
Expectations of a turnaround of fortune ran high when Ashfaq Wares with a promise to bring the Aussie consistency that he was a part of during his down under days took over the demanding job from Rabeed Imam, now TigerCricket.com editor.
But unfortunately Wares's new-look side failed to adjust with the new wicket, which was completely antithesis of Perth. The outcome was inevitable. Inqilab hammered 85 from six overs including 60 odd runs from two prodigal overs of Wares and debutant Suranjit Devnath. The Daily Star chase never took off after star opener Mohammad Isam was run out and Wares struck a golden duck. The only saving grace was Shamim's 32 in a total of 55-3.
Daily Star will play Ittefaq in their final match tomorrow.
Meanwhile, in the other matches of the day, ATN Bangla defeated Sangbad by four wickets, Banglavision thrashed BSS by 66 runs, The Daliy Jugantor edged BTV by eight runs, Channel One picked up a four-wicket win against The Daily Korotoa, RTV defeated New Age by three wickets and BD News handed a 46-run defeat on Boisakhi TV. On a disappointing day for English dailies, The Independent were the saving grace with a 23-run win over The Daily Khabarpatra.