Bangladesh will now have to win at least one of the three ODIs in the home series against South Africa this month to secure their Champions Trophy spot.
Reuters/Dhaka
Bangladesh has criticised the current scheduling system in international cricket as a new tri-series in Zimbabwe threatens their qualification for the 2017 Champions Trophy.
Bangladesh stunned India 2-1 last week and were celebrating their qualification for the eight-team tournament in England after their maiden ODI series victory over their mighty neighbours.
The victory meant Bangladesh, who blanked Pakistan 3-0 in the previous home series, rose to seventh place in the latest ODI rankings with 93 points, ahead of West Indies (88) and Pakistan (87).
Top seven sides and hosts England will compete in the tournament with a Sept. 30 cut-off date to determine the rankings of the teams.
Bangladesh’s celebrations, however, proved a bit premature when West Indies, previously not scheduled to play ODIs before the cut-off date, on Saturday announced the Zimbabwe tri-series, also involving Pakistan, in August-September.
Pakistan also get a chance to improve their ODI rankings in the five-match series against hosts Sri Lanka from July 11.
“The whole system has gone wrong ever since the ICC stopped following the FTP and let the boards deal bilaterally,” Dhaka Tribune quoted Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) director Jalal Yunus as saying.
“This has created loopholes I believe. I don’t support this. This is not healthy competition,” added Jalal.
Bangladesh will now have to win at least one of the three ODIs in the home series against South Africa next month to secure their Champions Trophy place and Jalal was confident the Tigers can do it.
“I believe we still have the chance to keep our place intact in the Champions Trophy. We just need to perform in the ODI series against South Africa,” he added.
Sri Lanka fined for slow over-rate
Sri Lanka have been fined for maintaining a slow over-rate during the second Test against Pakistan in Colombo, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said yesterday.
ICC match referee Chris Broad of England imposed the fines after the hosts were found to be one over short of the target during the Test which they won by seven wickets on Monday. Skipper Angelo Mathews was fined 20 percent of his undisclosed match fees and the rest of the team 10 percent according to regulations governing Test cricket, the ICC said in a statement.
