Bangladesh captain confident on eve of World Cup
Tony Munro - 2 April 1999

Bangladesh captain, Aminul Islam, remains confident on the eve of his team's World Cup debut in England in May despite successive defeats in the recent Meril ICT tournament in Dhaka. Islam said he was optimistic his team could cause an upset despite losing to both Zimbabwe and Kenya on home soil.

"Team spirit is very high. At the moment our preparation is very good," Islam said. "We have some very good players who will do well against the calibre of the teams we will face. "Khaled Mahmud is a very good young player while Mehrab Hossain scored a century in the tournament here and we expect him to be a key player," Islam added. Islam played down the pressure his team would face from public expectations. "Sometimes it gets to us. Expectations are really high at the moment, but it won't be too bad playing away from home.

"Cricket is the number one sport and has gone onto greater things since we won the ICC Trophy, but the pressure is okay." He said he was reasonably content with the team performance, except in one area. "Our bowlers and fielders did well, but our batting needs to improve,: Islam said. He concurred that beating Scotland was the main goal. "We're playing them in Edinburgh and will need to bat well."