A session lost
The last session of the first four-day match of the new season, between two High Performance (HP) squads, was called off due to a poor outfield at the Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium in Khulna yesterday.
After electing to bat, the Green team posted 177 runs for six wickets after 52 overs and went for tea. However due to the underprepared outfield, the coach and match officials decided to call it a day keeping in mind the risk of injuries and decided to play again from the second day.
The outfield in Khulna was damp from the start and a few of the Red team fielders bruised their arms and legs.
Any injury to a player in the HP squad would also adversely affect the national team as players like Afif Hossain, Abu Jayed, Shadman Islam, Soumya Sarkar and Imrul Kayes are considered back-ups for national players.
The venue manager, Abdus Sattar Kochi, admitted: "There was some risk of injury to the players. The outfield was damp due to recent rain, which is the reason for the underprepared ground," he said.
According to AEM Kaiser, the manager of the Bangladesh Cricket Board's game development department, the damaged area of the ground has been repaired. He added that the game would resume from 9:00am today.
It is certainly not a good sign with less than a month to go until the start of the National Cricket League, the country's first class competition.
Skipper Imrul Kayes top-scored with 58 before he was dismissed by pacer Taskin Ahmed as Green team kept losing wickets at regular interval. Pacer Al Amin Hossain was the pick of the bowlers and took three wickets for Red team.
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