DHAKA — Bangladesh has set its sights on the quarterfinals of next month's cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, the team's Sri Lankan coach said Thursday. Chandika Hathurusinghe told journalists in Dhaka he was happy with the team's preparations and hoped they would go “all the way.” But he said he was “taking one game at a time” and would focus on qualifying for the quarterfinals stage of the six-week tournament, which begins on Feb. 14. Bangladesh has only once got through to the second round in its four previous World Cups, when it ousted India from the group stage to qualify for the Super Eights in the West Indies in 2007. Bangladesh is placed in Pool A, which includes co-host Australia and New Zealand, as well as England, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Scotland. Bangladesh will be initially based in the Australian city of Brisbane, where it will have two weeks of training. It will play two practice matches in Brisbane before taking on Pakistan and Ireland in Sydney warm-up matches on Feb. 9 and 12. It begins its World Cup campaign against Afghanistan in Canberra on Feb. 18. “Three wins give you a chance but if you win four games we will probably make sure that we qualify for the quarterfinals,” he said. “I think the Brisbane stint as well as four matches over there will give us a good indication about where we are.” Skipper Mashrafe Mortaza said the opening match against Afghanistan would be key to Bangladesh's success. Underdogs Afghanistan beat host Bangladesh in the Asia Cup cricket last March. “Obviously we want to go to the second round,” said Mashrafe. “But it's a tough job. We really need a good start in the tournament.” But he said Bangladesh was not targeting any particular side, adding, “if we can start well, we will be confident against every other side.” Henriques replaces Watson Moises Henriques will replace injured all-rounder Shane Watson in the Australia squad for Friday's tri-series match against England, Cricket Australia has confirmed. Injury-prone Watson reported tightness in his right hamstring during training Thursday and was stood down just a few weeks ahead of next month's World Cup. Henriques, 27, will join an Australia team seeking its third successive victory in the tournament in the Hobart one-dayer. England has a win and a loss while India, the third team in the tournament, has lost both its encounters. — Agencies
