Bangladesh include three uncapped players

Bangladesh have included three uncapped youngsters in their squad for three ODIs against New Zealand. The exodus of players to the unofficial ICL has prompted the selectors to call up three players from the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Academy - Imrul Kayes, Naeem Islam, and Mahbubul Alam.

Kayes, a 21-year-old left-hand opener, scored 299 runs at 37.37 during the Academy's recent tour of Sri Lanka. Naeem, a middle-order batsman and part-time offspinner, captained the team, which won the one-dayers 2-1. Alam, a medium-pacer, was the leading wicket-taker on the tour, with 16 wickets in six games at 21.12 apiece.

"Kayes and Naeem are talented young batsmen while Robin [Alam] has proved his worth as a medium-fast bowler," chief selector Rafiqul Alam told AFP. "We hope we can win at least one match in the series."

Mohammad Ashrafal leads the 14-man squad, which includes six batsmen, two allrounders, a wicketkeeper, and five bowlers. Mushfiqur Rahim returns to the team with Dhiman Ghosh, the kepper on the tour of Australia, having joined the ICL. Raqibul Hasan, who fractured his right thumb in Australia last month, has not been selected. Left-arm medium-pacer Syed Rasel, who has been plagued by injuries in the past year, has been included.

The series starts on October 9 at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. Junaid Siddique, Kayes, Mehrab Hossain jnr and Rasel have been named in the BCB XI squad to face the New Zealanders in a warm-up game on Tuesday.

Bangladesh's pool of talent was severely depleted when 14 players joined the ICL's latest franchise, the Dhaka Warriors. They include recent internationals Aftab Ahmed, Alok Kapali, Shahriar Nafees, Farhad Reza, Ghosh, Mosharraf Hossain and Nazimuddin.