Ashraful, Nasir, Razzak fail beep test

Batsman Mohammad Ashraful, all-rounder Nasir Hossain, left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak and Elias Sunny failed the first round of the beep test conducted by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) at the Indoor Stadium in Mirpur today.

Although the BCB had allowed players with scores as low as 9 to participate in the domestic circuit last year, the BCB announced last Friday that the players would need to score at least 11 points in the beep test in order to be allowed to play in the National Cricket League (NCL), scheduled to begin from October 10.

Ashraful scored 9.7 points while Razzak and Nasir scored 9.6 and 9.2 in the beep test. The 33-year old spinner, Sunny also could not attain the required 11 points in the beep test. However, these players can still play in this year's NCL, if they can get their fitness level to the required mark.

The BCB selector Habibul Bashar, who was very happy about the test results, said that the BCB will provide ample opportunities for the players to meet the newly-set fitness requirements.

"The required score [in beep test] is a bit more than it was in the previous year. There was a bit of discussion regarding this but I think the players took this initiative in a positive way. In Dhaka, almost 96 per cent players passed the beep test. We already mentioned that if any player fails to meet the required level, then we will take his test for the second, third, or fourth time. So there will always be opportunities for the players." said Bashar in Mirpur today.