MOVIES WORLD BY JAZLAN

[ad_1] 10:10 PM ET Mohammad Isam ESPN Bangladesh's 2017-18 season ended with good news - the move up to No. 8 gave them their highest ranking in Test cricket. But their performance over the last eight months from August to March highlight four areas that need immediate attention. A leadership void Many would justifiably claim that Mashrafe Mortaza and Shakib Al Hasan are well qualified as team leaders but the reality has been different. Former coach Chandika Hathurusingha was arguably the most powerful cricket figure in the country until his abrupt departure in November last year. BCB chief Nazmul Hassan backed him, and while there was a mourning period in the aftermath of his departure, Hassan had expected to replace Hathurusingha swiftly. But numerous rejections by coaches has left a leadership void, as foreign head coaches have tended to become the centre of power in the Bangladesh team. For now, Hassan has assumed the leadership position particularly after Bangladesh's d...

[ad_1] Toby Roland-Jones has been ruled out of the remainder of the 2018 season with a recurrence of a stress fracture in his back, a devastating blow for a player who missed this winter's Ashes through injury, and would have been a strong contender for a recall against Pakistan at Lord's next month. Roland-Jones suffered soreness in his back during Middlesex's Championship game against Derbyshire last week, which ruled him out of bowling in the second half of the game. Scans have subsequently confirmed a recurrence of the stress fracture he suffered last September. He is now set to undergo an extended period of rehabilitation. "Everybody at the club is devastated for Toby and our immediate thoughts are with him, and that he makes a full recovery," Angus Fraser, Middlesex's director of cricket, said. "I know how frustrating it can be to miss a summer of cricket through injury, having been through this myself on two occasions. The ray of light is that you...

[ad_1] Liton Das celebrates his double-century © BCB A high-scoring draw in Rajshahi, between Central Zone and East Zone, closed out this season's Bangladesh Cricket League. Liton Das and Abdul Mazid struck double centuries while Shadman Islam, Afif Hossain and Mohammad Saifuddin made hundreds. Batting first, Central Zone posted 546 with Mazid making 205 off 246 balls with 22 fours and eight sixes. Shadman's 112 off 157 balls contained 11 fours and three sixes. Sohag Gazi took 5 for 188. Liton then scripted 274 off 293 balls, hitting 35 fours and two sixes. He added 148 runs for the third wicket with Tasamul Haque and a 298-run fourth-wicket stand with Afif who made 142 off 227 runs with 15 fours and five sixes. From 546 for 6, East Zone took the lead and then extended it to 165 thanks to Saifuddin, who made his maiden first-class hundred. Central Zone made 196 f...

[ad_1] New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman Rachel Priest has joined Wales women as their first-ever overseas signing, ahead of their 2018 English domestic campaign. She will look to spur Wales' bid for promotion to Division One of both the Women's County One-Day Championship and the Women's County T20. Priest, who last played for New Zealand at the 2017 World Cup last June, has played 86 ODIs, scoring 2119 at an average of 28.35 with two hundreds, and 68 T20Is, in which she has made 714 runs at a strike rate of 106.02. She was part of the Western Storm team that won the second Kia Super League in 2017, and scored a match-winning 72 off 36 balls in the final against Southern Vipers. "It's amazing to have a player of Rachel's calibre in the team," Wales head coach Aimee Rees said. "We are still a very young squad, so it will be brilliant for our Welsh girls to gain such invaluable experience from playing and training alongside an international cricketer....