The Bangladesh cricket team arrived home in Dhaka on Saturday, a day after narrowly escaping the mosque attack that killed 49 people in New Zealand.
At least 17 members of the Bangladesh cricket team drove up to Christchurch’s Masjid al-Noor mosque in a bus to join Friday prayers when a gunman stormed the building, in what is thought to be the worst act of terror directed against Muslims in a Western country.
The team arrived at the Dhaka airport late on Saturday, Bangladesh Cricket Board spokesman Rabeed Imam said.
“The only thing I can say is that we are very lucky,” skipper Mahmudllah Riyad told reporters after their arrival.
“With all of your prayers ... now we could return here alive. I cannot describe what is going on inside us, what we have seen,” he said.
“All of us on the team could not sleep properly,” he added. “The only thing that popped up in our minds was how lucky we are.”
Mahmudllah also thanked the cricket board and New Zealand Cricket for making arrangements to help them return home quickly.
The team was in Christchurch for their third and final Test match against the home side. It was scheduled to begin on Saturday, but was promptly canceled to allow the cricketers to return home as soon as possible.
Team manager Khaled Mashud said that players and staff on the bus watched as blood-soaked victims staggered from the building.
Sensing danger, they stayed on the bus for about 10 minutes before leaving it, Mashud said.
Bangladesh opening batsman Tamim Iqbal said it would be difficult for the national cricket team to overcome the shock of narrowly escaping the shooting.
“It will certainly take some time for us to get out of it after the experience we had here,” he told reporters at the Christchurch airport, moments before the team left for Bangladesh.
“It is better that we are returning ... because everyone’s family is worried. I just hope after returning home we can overcome it with the passing of time,” Tamim added.
SOUTH AFRICA VS SRI LANKA
Reuters, CAPE TOWN
South Africa on Saturday completed a clean sweep of their five-match one-day international series against Sri Lanka with a 41-run victory via the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method as the final match at Newlands was ended prematurely by a failed floodlight.
After electing to bat, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 225, three balls short of their 50 overs, for another below-par score in a series where they have found no answer to South Africa’s rampant pace and spin attack.
The home side then reached 135-2 after 28 overs and were well on course for victory when one of the five floodlight pylons at the ground failed to fire in the growing gloom.
Despite the other four providing illumination, the umpires deemed the conditions unsafe for the players and, after a two-hour delay, called off the contest.
Kusal Mendis (56) top-scored in the Sri Lanka innings before he was run out, a wasteful end to an impressive half-century.
Priyamal Perera (33), Isuru Udana (32) and Angelo Perera (31) all got starts, but could not go on as Sri Lanka lost wickets at regular intervals, with seamer Kagiso Rabada (3-50) the pick of the home bowlers.
Opener Quinton de Kock’s run of five straight half-centuries came to an end when he was dismissed for 6 in South Africa’s reply, but Aiden Markram gave his World Cup chances a boost with an unbeaten 67 from 75 balls before the players left the field.
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