The National Squad is taking the service of two pace bowlers from Bangladesh-A for their net sessions in BKSP and Dhaka. Monir from Surjatarun Club and Tareq Aziz from Dhanmondi Club are practicing with the Bangladesh team without a break.

It happened when Mohammed Sharif got himself injured and had to take some days off. The team felt that they are lacking enough pace bowlers for batting practice. So, they went for Monir and Tareq Aziz to help them out. Sharif is still out of the field, therefore, the pace duo is still with the team.

Monir's domestic performance was good enough to get him a call from Bangladesh-A. He captured 22 wickets from 11 matches in Premier Division 2000-2001. A tall and lanky Monir acted as a new ball operator for Surjatarun Club with Ahmed Kamal at the other end. He is going to have a training tour in Australia in October 2001. Wayne Philips, the present coach of Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy of Australia, will guide a five-member team where Monir is the only fast bowler. Two of them are from Bangladesh-A and the rest are members of Under-19.

Tareq Aziz could not play that well in the Premier League, yet he was called in for the A-team. Alike Monir he is a pace bowler who used to open for Dhanmondi Club.

The practice sessions with the national side is tough but very exciting, they acknowledged.

" It is really thrilling to have Trevor Chappell just behind when you are bowling in nets. Besides, we are bowling against the best batsmen of the country, which is helping a lot to reveal the weaknesses we have," they said.

The 29-member Bangladesh-A team run their practice in BKSP, four days a weak under coach Dipu Roy Chowdhury and Golam Farooq Suru.

© CricInfo