Bangladesh Cricket Board Friday announced the 19 cricketers to form a national team for the 1999 World Cup Cricket with Aminul Islam Bulbul as captain.

The BCB left out experienced middle-order batsman Minhajul Abedin Nannu.

The selected 19 players are: Aminul Islam Bulbul, Shariar Hossain Bidyut, Mehrab Hossain Opee, Javed Omar Belim Gulla, Khaled Mahmud Sujon, Al Shariar Rokon, Faruque Ahmed, Akram Khan, Naimur Rahman Durjoy, Khaled Masud Pilot, Enamul Haq Moni, Mohammed Rafique, Neeyamur Rashid Rahul, Mahbubur Rahman Selim, Jahangir Alam, Manjurul Islam Monju, Aminul Islam Bhola, Shafiuddin Ahmed Babu and Hasibul Hossain Shanta.

The 19 men were picked up from a team of 30 selected by BCB initially and are now undergoing training at a residential camp at BKSP, Savar.

The final team containing 15 cricketers will be announced in the third week of March. The remaining four will be stand-by.

Bangladesh became unbeaten champions of the ICC Trophy in 1997 and earned their ticket of United Kingdom to play their first-ever World Cup. They have been placed in Group-B with Australia, Pakistan, West Indies, New Zealand and Scotland.

Group A comprises holders Sri Lanka, India, South Africa, England, Zimbabwe and ICC runners-up Kenya.

According to the schedule, one-day debutante Bangladesh will play their first World Cup match with New Zealand on May 17 at Chelmsford. It will face former world champions West Indies on May 21 at Dublin, meet host Scotland at Edinburgh, Australia on May 27 at Chester-Le-Street and Pakistan on May 31 at Northampton in the group matches.

Before participating in the World Cup, Bangladesh team will play some official practice matches with the participating teams and some other warm up matches against English county teams.