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Nottingham Forest have now made contact over a deal for a “phenomenal” striker, who is likely to leave his club in the January transfer window.

Forest searching for new striker after Chris Wood blow

Chris Wood is yet to make an appearance since the arrival of Sean Dyche back in October, and having now undergone surgery, the centre-forward is set for an extended spell on the treatment table.

Writing on Instagram, Wood said: “The Christmas I didn’t expect, you can never know what football throws at you,

“From the highs of last season to now the battles and the lows personally of this season. You have to be ready for anything.

“Truly gutting and frustrating that I’ll be on the sideline for another period of time. It’s what’s needed to come back stronger and better to help my team-mates do the job needed in the Premier League and in Europe.”

As such, Dyche is left with the likes of Igor Jesus and Arnaud Kalimuendo to choose from at striker, but the latter could be leaving the City Ground this month, as concrete talks have now been held with Bundesliga outfit Eintracht Frankfurt.

Consequently, the manager could be left a little light on options at striker, meaning he may need to bring in a new option, and Nottingham Forest have now made contact over a deal for Wolverhampton Wanderers star Jorgen Strand Larsen.

Strand Larsen is now deemed likely to exit Molineux this month, given that the Old Gold are almost certainly going to be relegated from the Premier League, and Forest have now lodged an initial enquiry.

A deal could be on the expensive side, however, with it being revealed Wolves are planning to hold out for a fee of £40m, and forking out the full asking price would make the Norwegian the most expensive signing in Nottingham Forest’s history.

"Phenomenal" Strand Larsen needs to leave Wolves

The 25-year-old isn’t having the best of campaigns, having only scored one Premier League goal, but it must be noted he is playing in an extremely poor side, with Wolves collecting just three points all season.

Related Nottingham Forest pursuing move for British ace who "looks like Ronaldo"

Forest are looking to strengthen their defence in the upcoming transfer window.

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Previously, the 24-time Norway international has proven he is capable of delivering in the Premier League, chipping in with 14 goals and four assists in 35 matches last season.

Subscribe for transfer insights on Forest’s striker hunt Get deeper context on transfer sagas by subscribing to the newsletter: coverage and analysis of moves like Forest’s pursuit of Jorgen Strand Larsen, with contextual breakdowns, market perspective, and what a move would mean for the clubs involved.

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The Wolves striker also played a key role in his side avoiding relegation last season, as noted by former manager Vitor Pereira, who said back in March: “Jorgen was phenomenal out there. His ability to find the net at critical moments has revitalized our team and given us a renewed sense of hope as we fight to stay in the Premier League.”

Strand Larsen definitely needs to leave Wolves, as his previous exploits suggest he is too good to be playing in the Championship, and the centre-forward could help fire Nottingham Forest to safety.

	South Africa captain Cri-Zelda Brits will be optimistic about her side’s chances in the qualifiers despite losing Johmari Logtenberg and Mignon du Preez © ICC

The ICC women’s World Cup qualifiers gets underway in South Africa on Monday and by the end of the week two teams will have secured themselves spots in the World Cup in Australia next year. But what about the other six? What will they take back from a tournament where they get to play a maximum of four games, apart from the warm-ups scheduled prior to the qualifiers?The teams placed third and fourth will get ranked among the top ten countries for the next four years which means their matches are then deemed as official Tests, ODIs and Twenty20 internationals. But that doesn’t mean they will automatically play more games every year. What plagues women’s cricket the most is how little each team plays, apart from England, Australia and New Zealand. While the World Cup qualifiers cannot ensure more matches per team over the next four years, it can throw up at least two or three quality sides who can then take their game forward by competing more regularly with the top four – Australia, India, New Zealand and England.So for South Africa, Ireland, Netherlands and Pakistan this is an opportunity to move to the bigger leagues, while for Bermuda, Papua New Guinea, Zimbabwe and Scotland the qualifiers is a tournament to gain experience, play in different conditions and meet new opposition. How different the conditions will be for them is revealed by what Papua New Guinea’s captain, Kune Amini, said regarding the pitches they will be playing on. “We’ve never played on turf so that will be different for our girls,” she told the ICC website. “I think it’s too soon to qualify for the World Cup as our standard of play is not similar to other countries as we play on concrete.”As hosts, South Africa may have the best chance of winning the tournament and getting a higher seed at the World Cup. But they will badly miss Johmari Logtenberg and Mignon du Preez. Logtenberg, their star batsman, quit the game last month, while du Preez withdrew from the tournament for personal reasons. There isn’t a more emphatic reason to play more often than the danger of losing players. In the last 12 months South Africa played eight ODIs, one Test and two Twenty20 internationals. In the same period Australia have played 16 ODIs, one Twenty20 and a Test. Unless given more opportunities, other players will follow Logtenberg out of cricket to more lucrative sports like golf.

	The amateur nature of their game may allow players to pursue interests outside cricket and of course the costs of touring, taking leave from schools, universities, and regular jobs come in the way of most women players turning in to full-time professionals, but their teams won’t be taken seriously unless they turn out for matches with competitive squads

The postponement of the tournament, scheduled for last November in Pakistan, following political unrest in the country gave all the sides a chance to get in some more practice, but injuries and for some, no leave from work, have depleted the squads of their first-choice players. Scotland’s Vari Maxwell, part of the original squad, was unable to make it to South Africa because she is a Royal Navy employee and her ship is still at sea. The amateur nature of their game may allow players to pursue interests outside cricket and of course the costs of touring, taking leave from schools, universities, and regular jobs come in the way of most women players turning in to full-time professionals, but their teams won’t be taken seriously unless they turn out for matches with competitive squads.In the end it is the bilateral series – or at the very least quadrangulars – that will allow teams to improve their game. But it is tournaments like the qualifiers that will identify the competition and get talented players noticed. In last year’s Asian Cricket Council tournament, Bangladesh’s victory, without dropping a game, which included ten-wicket wins against Singapore and UAE, prompted the board to organise a women’s cricket league in the country. The national players were given cash awards, a full-time coach and trainer were appointed, and regular training camps were started. The board also promised to provide cricket gear for the women’s league as well as for the school girls’ division. Runners-up Nepal were also given cash prizes by their association.That should be enough incentive for the players in South Africa to make a mark at the qualifiers this week. Of course there is the World Cup as well.

Bangladesh’s five-wicket win over Australia in 2005 came through the bat of a 19-year old Mohammad Ashraful © Getty Images

Ricky Ponting has insisted Australia’s shock defeat to Bangladesh two years ago won’t be a factor when the two sides meet on Saturday in Antigua.Australia, unbeaten in World Cup matches since their 1999 group match against Pakistan, are favourites to win the Super Eights clash. However, Bangladesh beat them by five wickets at Cardiff in 2005 led by a 101-ball 100 by Mohammad Ashraful. Before that game Andrew Symonds had been dropped from the Australian side after a late-night drinking session and Ponting said lessons from the extraordinary reverse had long since been learnt.”We’ve worked it out. A lot’s been said about it already,” said Ponting. “It’s long gone and forgotten about as far as we are concerned. We just didn’t play at our best that day and there was a bit of other stuff happening around the ground.”I had a few things on my mind during the course of the day. We lost that game, Bangladesh played well, we made a lot of mistakes and hopefully we are a better team tomorrow than we were on that day. I think we are.”The cricket you’ve seen us play the last few weeks would indicate that tomorrow, the way we are going at the moment, that we should be able to play cricket good enough to win this game. That’s all we’ve been focused on the last couple of days.”We played a very good game against South Africa , an excellent game against West Indies . We feel we are very well prepared, we’ve played a game here we should know these conditions pretty well.”Australia beat South Africa by 83 runs and West Indies by 103 runs and have posted a record-total of 300 plus scores six times in a row.Bangladesh beat India in the group stage and are no longer considered minnows by the rest of the teams including Australia. “They are in the Super Eights part of the World Cup tournament so you have to pay them the attention they deserve,” Ponting said.”We have spoken about it. They’ve probably used the minnow tag very well in their favour. I think they are actually a bit better than that. They have improved a lot, there’s no doubt about that. They almost beat us in a Test match when we went straight there after South Africa last year.”They’ve got some young players who are very capable on their day and we have prepared for them as we would a South Africa, a West Indies or a New Zealand game. We’ve seen some good young talent come out of Bangladesh and hopefully they continue to improve – just not tomorrow.”

Kennedy Otieno fails in Bangladesh © AFP

Kenya’s veteran wicketkeeper-batsman Kennedy Otieno has vowed to quit international cricket after being dropped for the opening match of the ICC Intercontinental Cup which starts in Nairobi today. Otieno, 34, was angry at being left out of the side following a dramatic slump in form.The selectors said Otieno and his opening-partner David Obuya, who was also dropped, had failed to deliver during the recent tour of Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. Otieno scored 8 runs in three innings in Bangladesh before being dropped for the final ODI.”I am very bitter right now and am even considering retiring from international cricket,” he said. “I am very disappointed considering what I have done for this country. “I am crying for justice. I should be treated fairly and judged fairly as the whole top order failed in Bangladesh.”Otieno had been a virtual ever-present in the national side since 1996 and he is one of only three players – Steve Tikolo and Maurice Odumbe being the others – to have played more than 60 ODIs for Kenya.

Close 4th day
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
If the first nine days of the series is anything to go by, nothing canbe predicted about the last day of play at Kolkata. Pakistan need 327runs; India need nine wickets; both teams have the capacity to win it,and to let it slip.India will be frustrated that the pitch hasn’t deteriorated as much asexpected, and it still playing easy, if a bit slower. As DineshKarthik demonstrated yesterday, application will suffice to survive onthis track. It will just take two batsmen to have a partership thatlasts a session-and-a-half, and the match will be safe. And if aquality player like Inzamam-ul-Haq or Yousuf Youhana really gets set,a chase could be on. Pakistan could also consider a wild-card move,like sending Abdul Razzaq at the fall of the next wicket withinstructions to hit out.India will take hope from the knowledge that both Anil Kumble andHarbhajan Singh are playing this game. They are both world-classspinners, and will not be as ineffectual as Danish Kaneria was. Theyhave won matches on pitches just like this one, and they will have theluxury of being able to put men around the bat in close-in positions,because there are enough runs on the board to attack. That is animportant consideration.

Close India 523 (Dravid 233, Laxman 148) and 37 for 0 need 193 more runs to beat Australia 556 and 196 (Agarkar 6-41)
Live scorecard

There was plenty to celebrate for the Indians, while Australia struggled © AFP

An enthralling day’s cricket ended with India requiring just 193 more – with all ten wickets in hands – to pull off a stunning victory over Australia at the Adelaide Oval. After Rahul Dravid, with his 233, had steered the Indians to within 33 of Australia’s first-innings total, Ajit Agarkar turned in his career-best performance, taking 6 for 41 to bundle Australia out for 196. By close of play, the Indian openers had knocked off 37 from the original target of 230.On an increasingly wearing pitch, the Indian bowlers profited from bowling a good line and length, and allowing the footholds at the other end do the rest. The Australian batsmen responded to the challenge as they always do – coming hard at the bowlers and looking to dominate. However, the fourth-day track was no longer the batting beauty it was on days one and two – every time the ball pitched on the rough, it stopped, which made playing on the up fraught with danger. Four of the top six got starts, but they all fell playing one attacking stroke too many.India were helped by the start that Agarkar gave them with the new ball: Justin Langer was trapped in front by one which nipped back – a replica of his first-innings dismissal at the Gabba – while Ricky Ponting followed up his double-hundred with a duck, as Akash Chopra at gully snapped up an uppish back-foot drive (18 for 2). When Matthew Hayden scooped a drive to cover soon after lunch for 17, Australia were struggling at 44 for 3, and the lead was a mere 77.Then came the first of the two substantial partnerships in Australia’s innings, as Damien Martyn and Steve Waugh put together 55. Martyn uncorked some glorious cover-drives in another commanding display, and with Waugh overcoming a scratchy start and playing his trademark rasping square-drives, the Australian innings was back on track.Noticing that the drying track was increasingly aiding spin – even Anil Kumble’s legbreaks turned a great deal when they pitched on the rough – Sourav Ganguly brought on Sachin Tendulkar, and the move paid off spectacularly, as both Martyn (38) and Waugh (42) chased wide ones which spun off the footholds. Dravid held both catches – Martyn’s was a spectacular, one-handed effort, while Waugh’s was more straightforward – and suddenly Australia had slumped to 112 for 5 at tea.Adam Gilchrist then starred in the second mini-revival, bludgeoning a typically thunderous 43, off 45 balls. He survived a stumping chance off Kumble on 13, and made the Indians pay for it, tonking both Kumble and Tendulkar for sixes. His partnership with Simon Katich, who tackled the spinners and the pitch with plenty of confidence, had mounted 71 from a mere 15 overs when Gilchrist’s overconfidence did him in. Attempting to sweep a straight delivery from Kumble, he moved too far inside the line and found his leg stump knocked back (183 for 6).Agarkar then moved in for the kill, with a wicket in each of his last four overs, as Australia added just 13 more. The short ball, so profitable for Agarkar in this series, brought him more success when Katich holed out to Ashish Nehra at fine leg for 31, while the tail succumbed to old-fashioned line-and-length stuff.The Indian openers survived the ten overs left in the day with scarcely a scare, as Virender Sehwag thumped a couple of fours square of the wicket off the seamers, and clunked Stuart MacGill’s first ball – a full toss – to the midwicket fence. Chopra didn’t show any signs of nerves either, cover-driving Jason Gillespie and MacGill with superb timing.The events through the day completely overshadowed Dravid’s achievement earlier in the morning. Resuming on 199, he reached his double-hundred with the first ball of the day, cutting MacGill for four, and then pushed the Indian innings along to 523. He was the last man to fall, top-edging a catch to Andy Bichel off Gillespie, whose figures of 1 for 106 was scant reward for some lion-hearted bowling. It seemed then that Dravid’s innings would, at best, be a match-saving one. Now, it could well be a matchwinning effort.

Have Otago finally got themselves in a position where they can ram home the advantage and set up the winning position that has been denied them in games so far in the State Championship?Central Districts could only manage 185 after being asked to bat first by Otago captain Craig Cumming when the four-day domestic competition resumed today.It had been 30 degrees Celsius in Alexandra overnight but the temperature plummeted dramatically before play started in cool conditions at Molyneux Park.Central Districts started out on a greenish wicket, unlike the usual Molyneux Park one and things worked Otago’s way, almost from the outset. Peter Ingram and David Kelly were both out when the score was 22 and Ben Smith followed at 49.Mathew Sinclair worked his way to 28 off 38 balls, hitting five fours, but was trapped leg before wicket by Craig Pryor. At that stage each of the Otago bowlers used had claimed a wicket.Some overdue defiance came from captain Glen Sulzberger, who battled hard for 137 minutes, to score his 36 runs. He and wicket-keeper Bevan Griggs added 55 for the sixth wicket, before Griggs was out for 24 after 72 minutes, the first victim of fast bowler Kerry Walmsley returning to the action.Theirs was easily the best partnership in the innings and apart from a later contribution by Andrew Schwass, batting at No 8 for 39 not out, there was little else to enthuse over in the batting. Central Districts were all out for 185.Walmsley with four for 42 from 20 overs impressed and deserved a five-wicket bag.James McMillan, who took three for 53 from 15.4 overs, bowled well in patches. But like David Sewell, who had one for 44 from 14 overs, he tended to bowl too many short balls. Sewell continued his penchant for leg side theory.Pryor performed a very economical spell of 12 overs and finished with two for 32.Otago did not make the best of starts when losing Robbie Lawson for five with the score on 11 when he was caught off Michael Mason’s bowling. While on 32, Cumming was caught off Schwass for nine.However, Simon Beare was 16 not out and Chris Gaffaney was 12 not out when bad light stopped play 55 minutes early with Otago 48/2.Otago’s response will determine just how much of a factor the pitch was in the Central Districts innings. But if the conditions allow the batsmen to get in tomorrow, Otago must look to build a big total to put the pressure on CD on days three and four.

The chairman of the Interim Committee of the Board of Control forCricket in Sri Lanka, Vijaya Malalasekara, today pledged that the WestIndies would be here in December to play in the triangular tournament and thethree-match Test series.The Test and the triangular series against the West Indies were inthe BCCSL schedule, but there were doubts about the participation of theWest Indies since they had not confirmed anything.Yesterday Malalasekara told CricInfo, before leaving for the ICC meeting in London, that the West Indies had confirmed their participation and that they would definitely be here.Though Sri Lanka have been playing Test cricket for close to two decades, West Indies have played only three Tests against the island nation.The West Indies will start the tour with the triangular series, which also involves Zimbabwe, and then proceed to the three Tests.

	India discards Mohammad Kaif and Suresh Raina lent plenty of experience to UP, fighting back after the team nearly got relegated © Cricinfo Ltd

Uttar Pradesh

Round 1, v Orissa in Cuttack

ScorecardSeamer Sudeep Tyagi made a golden debut as he had dismissed half the Orissa side by lunch. He followed-up the three wickets in the first session with three more as UP bowled Orissa out for 216. From 35 for 3, Suresh Raina revived UP with a blinder – a big one at that, 203 off 201 balls – and UP had attained a huge lead with lots of time to spare. Tyagi continued the dream debut with four more wickets in the second innings, as UP won by an innings and 10 runs.Points at the end of the round: 6Round 2, v Andhra in Anantapur

Scorecard
With Praveen Kumar reinforcing their attack, UP had Punjab at 17 for 3. But Uday Kaul, Pankaj Dharmani and Ravi Inder came up with good rearguard knocks that took them to 381. Raina made another whirlwind century – 123 off 130 balls, Kaif made a quick half-century, but the rest of the batsmen failed again. In a tense battle, which included a 17-run last-wicket partnership between Kumar and Tyagi, UP fell short by six runs. Chasing 358 in less than two sessions, UP gave it a shot but it was too tall an order and had to settle for a draw.Points at the end of the round: 8Round 4, v Baroda in Lucknow

Scorecard
The first complete failure for Tyagi as Baroda get a challenging total of 334, despite none of their batsmen going on to make a hundred. Their batting failed again, as Yusuf Pathan took five wickets to get Baroda a 125-run first-innings lead. The spin twins, Piyush Chawla and Praveen Gupta, took charge in the second innings, sharing nine wickets between them, bowling Baroda out for 148 and bringing UP back into the contest. When it came down to chasing 274 on a turning track, the UP batting wasn’t up to it and despite a 40-run last-wicket stand, fell short by 48 runs.Points at the end of the round: 8Round 6, v Bengal in Kolkata

Scorecard
Fighting to avoid relegation, they went to Kolkata but were helped by the fact that Bengal, too, needed an outright win desperately. The track was sporting and the UP medium-pacers immediately got into the act. Praveen Kumar, debutant Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Piyush Chawla got three wickets apiece to bowl Bengal out in two sessions. UP batted big, five of them got half-centuries, as they batted Bengal out of the game with a 355-run first-innings lead. Tyagi and Gupta combined to bowl Bengal out cheaply again and secure UP the momentum they would take with them into the knockouts.Points at the end of the round: 14Round 7, v Hyderabad in Hyderabad

Scorecard
If they didn’t keep their eye on other matches, they would want to come out of the match with an outright win. Batting first, half-centuries from Tanmay Srivastava, Piyush Chawla and Amir Khan took UP to a total in excess of 300 to enable the bowlers to do their thing. Chawla and Gupta took four each and Hyderabad just about avoided the follow-on. Kaif scored an unbeaten century to set Hyderabad an imposing target of 438, and despite a blistering century by Ravi Teja, Praveen Kumar proved to be too good for Hyderabad, and UP threw out all permutations and combinations to finish as group leaders.Points at the end of the round: 19Semi-final, v Saurashtra in Vadodara
The liveliest wicket they had played on so far had them seven-down by lunch on day one. Kaif scored 81 on a tough wicket to get UP to 188, which would prove to be a big total. Before stumps on day one, Tyagi, Praveen Kumar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar had taken eight Saurashtra wickets and it was clear the match wouldn’t run even half its stipulated duration. On the second day, UP were bowled out for 100, but the 162-run target proved too much for Saurashtra as Praveen Kumar and Tyagi took four wickets each to take UP to the final.

	Askash Chopra and Gautam Gambhir were in consistent form through the season for Delhi © Cricinfo Ltd

Delhi

Round 1, v Rajasthan in Delhi

ScorecardOn a Manic Monday in Delhi, 20 wickets fell as Delhi were bowled out for 119 and still held a first-innings lead of 34. The medium-pacers all contributed after what seemed a start to another ordinary season for Delhi. Virat Kohli and Mithun Manhas scored centuries in the second innings to set Rajasthan an improbable target of 422. Although the bowlers weren’t as emphatic as in the first innings, they did the job to give Delhi a comfortable win.Points at the end of the round: 5Round 2, v Saurashtra in Delhi

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On the first day, Pradeep Sangwan and Sharma took three wickets each to run through the Mumbai batting before Gautam Gambhir scored 89 to secure a first-innings lead for Delhi on a wicket that became easier and easier as the match went on. Sahil Kukreja scored 199 for Mumbai to give them a bit more than a day to bowl Delhi out, but Delhi had too much class in their ranks for that to happen. During the 188-run opening stand between Gambhir and Chopra, it even seemed Delhi might just reach the improbable target of 387. Two wickets in two balls – those of Chopra and Virender Sehwag – and another in the next over laid those notions to rest, and Delhi played out a comfortable draw.Points at the end of the round: 11Round 4, v Himachal Pradesh in Dharamsala

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First a surprise, then a stunner. Himachal scored 343 after being down at 154 for 5, but that was just a thunderstorm when compared to the hurricane that would hit Delhi. In 23.3 overs, a line-up boasting of Gambhir, Chopra, Virender Sehwag and Manhas, was bowled out for 75 runs. Following on, though, Delhi made amends, riding on a double century by Chopra and a century by Gambhir to give Himachal 215 to win. Soon, Sharma wreaked havoc, as Delhi took out five Himachal batsmen in 16.5 overs, but Himachal hung on for the next 18 overs to enforce a draw.Points at the end of the round: 12Round 5, v Maharashtra in Nagothane

ScorecardPlaying the then group leaders Maharashtra, Delhi came up with a professional performance, bowling them out for 219 on the first day. Rajat Bhatia was the chief destructor with his first five-wicket haul in first-class cricket. Bhatia wasn’t done yet as he scored a century to ensure Delhi a 190-run lead on a tricky track. When it looked like Maharashtra might set them a testing target on the last day, Parvinder Awana struck with a hat-trick and turned the match in Delhi’s favour, who lost three wickets in chasing the 51-run target.Points at the end of the round: 17Round 6, v Karnataka in Bangalore
Karnataka 0 for 0 drew with Delhi 538 (Dhawan 148, Kohli 169, Manhas 124)
Scorecard More frustration for Delhi, but this time of the weather’s making, after Kohli, Dhawan and Manhas scored centuries to dominate Karnataka. But as the other contenders in the group moved closer, rain ensured there was little play over the least two days, robbing Delhi of the chance to go for the kill. They had to contend with one point, amid forecasts that it might rain in Chennai, the venue of their last league match, too.Points at the end of the round: 18Round 7, v Tamil Nadu in Chennai

ScorecardWith what had happened in the other matches, a draw would have been good enough for Delhi to ensure a place in the semi-finals, but they did it in comprehensive style. After bowling Tamil Nadu out for 268, the batsmen all contributed in Delhi getting a 70-run first-innings lead. Gambhir scored a fluent 87 and Chopra and Dhawan chipped in with handy half-centuries too. Chetanya Nanda got into the act in the second innings and took five wickets to dismiss Tamil Nadu cheaply and Delhi got the required 105 runs easily.Points at the end of the round: 23Semi-final, v Baroda in Indore

ScorecardWith Pradeep Sangwan and Virat Kohli gone to the India Under-19 side playing in South Africa, and Ishant Sharma representing the India senior side in Australia, the biggest challenge for Delhi was to get the pace attack in order. Amit Bhandari and Sumit Narwal, a former Haryana player, responded to the call and took four wickets apiece to bowl Baroda out for 199. Before the end of the first day, Delhi were out down at 5 for 3 themselves, but Mithun Manhas and Aditya Jain helped them recover. Manhas fell short of what would have been his third century of the season, but ensured Delhi got a 72-run first-innings lead.A solid innings by Rakesh Solanki and a whirlwind 113 off 81 balls by Yusuf Pathan set Delhi a challenging target, and Baroda looked like scripting yet another comeback from a first-innings deficit. A chase of 271 was going to be a tricky one, but Gambhir chose to get there in a dismissive fashion. Gambhir scored 132 off 179 balls as Delhi coasted, despite the absence of Chopra was in the hospital following a nausea attack.

There are still concerns over Mashrafe Mortaza © AFP

Habibul Bashar expects a tough test from Canada when Bangladesh play their second tri-series match in Antigua and also revealed that there are lingered fitness concerns around key strike bowler Mashrafe Mortaza.”Mortaza had a minor foot injury before the last match and was rested,” Basher told . “That problem is gone but he is now complaining of back-pain. The physio feels it is not anything too serious but we have to wait and see whether he’ll be available to face Canada.”Basher said his team won’t underestimate the Canadians. “We haven’t had a chance to watch [them] in action but from the information I have received they seem like a decent side,” he added. “Gus Logie [Bermuda ‘s coach] told me that he thinks this Canadian team is better than the one that appeared in the 2003 World Cup.”Also, they have won a practice game here against Antigua where they chased 231 with five wickets and more than seven overs to spare. Bermuda were okay but I believe Canada will be stronger.”Bashar said the return of Shahadat Hossain, Bangladesh’s quickest bowler, is one certain change to their line-up for the second match, but he thought the team did well in all departments against Bermuda.”We were playing without our two main fast bowlers [Mortaza and Shahadat] but the others did not do a bad job. The wickets here are excellent for batting and there is not much turn for the spinners so the bowlers did well in checking the runs. All the batsmen looked in good touch too.”