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DT<br />
18<br />
Sports<br />
THURSDAY, AUGUST <strong>17</strong>, 20<strong>17</strong><br />
The waterlogged Fatullah<br />
Khan Shaheb Osman<br />
Ali Stadium makes for<br />
grim viewing yesterday<br />
as persistent rainfall<br />
engulfed the entire<br />
ground. As per the MoU<br />
signed by CA and the BCB,<br />
the lone practice match<br />
between Australia and<br />
BCB XI was supposed to<br />
be held in Fatullah. But<br />
that looks highly unlikely<br />
now<br />
MD MANIK<br />
CA delegation team inspects ULAB field<br />
Continuous rain means Fatullah is under threat as venue for Australia’s warm-up game<br />
• Ali Shahriyar Bappa<br />
A delegation team from Australia<br />
arrived in Bangladesh and inspected<br />
the University of Liberal Arts<br />
Bangladesh campus field yesterday<br />
regarding the selection of the<br />
practice match venue, ahead of the<br />
two-match Test series between the<br />
visiting and the home side.<br />
The two-day warm-up game is<br />
scheduled to be held on Tuesday<br />
and Wednesday.<br />
According to the MoU signed<br />
by the BCB and Cricket Australia,<br />
Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium in<br />
Fatullah was selected as the venue<br />
for the practice match.<br />
But seasonal rain and waterlogging<br />
from adjacent factories<br />
made the venue unavailable for the<br />
warm-up game.<br />
The BCB is still trying to manage<br />
the Fatullah field for the match by<br />
installing pump and sucking water<br />
out from the ground.<br />
But persistent rainfall made it<br />
difficult to prepare the ground on<br />
time.<br />
As a result, the BCB has offered<br />
three different venues to the delegation<br />
for the practice match.<br />
They are Bangladesh Krira Shikkha<br />
Protisthan field, ULAB campus<br />
field and Sylhet Stadium.<br />
The Australia delegation team<br />
inspected the ULAB field and made<br />
their remarks on the ground.<br />
The final decision however, will<br />
be made after two days.<br />
The delegation team will visit<br />
Fatullah Stadium today to inspect<br />
the overall situation.<br />
“We are very happy to be here.<br />
The series is starting soon. The<br />
Australian team are preparing<br />
in Darwin at the moment. Frank<br />
Dimasi and I are here to look at all<br />
the facilities available and that are<br />
put up by the BCB,” CA security<br />
unit manager Sean Carroll told the<br />
media.<br />
“Weather is beyond our control<br />
which we are aware of during any<br />
series. We will work with BCB to<br />
get a suitable venue for the practice<br />
match.<br />
“We will do a full assessment of<br />
all our inspections in the next 24-<br />
48 hours, and then we will sit down<br />
with the BCB to work out the suitable<br />
venue for the warm-up game,”<br />
he said.<br />
The ULAB field is situated at the<br />
Mohammadpur Ramchandrapur<br />
area near Beribadh. It was constructed<br />
in 2005.<br />
No first class match has been<br />
held here.<br />
But Dhaka Premier Division<br />
Cricket League team Dhaka Abahani<br />
Limited and BPL T20 franchise<br />
Khulna Titans trained here last<br />
year.<br />
The other option is BKSP but it<br />
was learnt that Australia are not<br />
willing to travel so far.<br />
It will take almost one and a half<br />
hours amid normal traffic for the<br />
Australia team to reach the venue<br />
from their hotel.<br />
BKSP has three cricket grounds,<br />
one of which has hosted practice<br />
matches for touring sides in the past.<br />
Fatullah is 25.5km to the south<br />
from their team hotel in Dhaka,<br />
while Sylhet is situated 240 kms to<br />
the east of the capital.<br />
Sylhet hosted matches during<br />
the 2014 World T20. •
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