DHAKA, Bangladesh (CMC)

Bangladesh yesterday named Mashrafe Mortaza as captain and the uncapped wicket-keeper/batsman Saghir Hossain in a 15-member squad to tour West Indies next month.

Mortaza replaces Mohammad Ashraful, who had been captain for two years. The Caribbean tour, which includes two Tests, three One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and a Twenty20 match, starts on July 3 with a three-day match against West Indies A in Barbados.

focus on his batting

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) says it relieved Ashraful of his captaincy duties to allow him to focus on his batting.

"The board wants to sincerely thank Mohammad Ashraful for his contribution as skipper," said Mohammed Jalal Yunus of the BCB's Communications department.

"The decision to replace him was taken with the intention of relieving the load on Ashraful so that he can play his natural game."

The BCB insisted that Bangladesh's World Twenty20 failure earlier this month when they lost to India and Ireland and failed to progress to the Super Eight phase did not trigger their decision.

"We all know his quality and what he is capable of as a batsman and we are confident that without the burden of captaincy his batting would flourish and he would contribute more to the team," Yunus added.

Shakib Al Hasan, currently the world's No.1 all-rounder in ODIs, has been named the vice-captain.