Was ist Paintball? » cant afford to be standing on the sid

Today Mashrafe Mortaza becomes the first Bangladesh cricketer in the era since they gained Test status to finish 15 years in international cricket. To mark the occasion, a collection of anecdotes, tributes and reflections by fellow cricketers, administrators, journalists, and the man himself.Tamim Iqbal, Bangladesh team-mate I was really down during the 2015 World Cup. There was a lot of talk about me and it would have been easy to drop me or forget about me, but the way he took care of me was unbelievable. He gave me a lot of time, spoke about everything else other than cricket. He joked with me, and while I knew that he was trying to distract me away from my troubles, I did indeed end up forgetting about them. During team meetings he would start off by saying, Tamim will be the key. When I used to hear him speak about me in that way, it gave me a positive mindset. He did it through the tournament. I might play under a better captain than him but I seriously doubt whether if anyone else will take care of me like Mashrafe bhai.Brendan Taylor Former Zimbabwe captain, who played against Mashrafe in 28 international matches In 2006 we were level at one-all in a five-match series. We were chasing 237 to go 2-1 up.I remember Shahadat Hossain getting a hat-trick, and we were under serious pressure. Mash had had some success upfront and at the death. We needed 17 off the last over when he bowled a full toss that I hit for a six. I felt he was now under pressure, but knowing his character, I knew he would bounce back strong.We needed five off the last ball, which I managed to hit for six to win the game. Ill never forget him pull his jumper over his head in disbelief.One thing was for sure that he put all that behind him and made life very difficult for us when we toured Bangladesh a few months later. Again, its his strong mental side that has made him very successful. We have always respected each other and maintain a great friendship.Mahmudullah, Bangladesh team-mate On our way to West Indies in 2009, Mashrafe bhais first series as Bangladesh captain, he handed me an envelope in the airport lounge. Read it later, he said.I got on the plane and opened the envelope. The letter I read that day is something that I still remember. He had written some very inspiring words about me, and it seemed like he had taken a lot of time to write it, with lots of personal touches.He is an extraordinary human being who has taken our team to new heights. He is like an older brother, a friend. I pray that he leads Bangladesh into more success, and may he play for many years.Habibul Bashar, Former Bangladesh captain and current selector I always found Mashrafe to be a freakishly talented and determined individual. There are many occasions when he was unfit but pulled himself out somehow and managed to perform really well.It happened in Antigua when we were preparing for the 2007 World Cup. He was about to be sent back home with back spasms. The physio was observing him for a couple of days - with Mashrafe, you always wait till the last moment. We went on a day trip and he seemed a bit better, but the next day, when everyone thought he would have to go home, he arrived at the nets. And I was the unfortunate man facing his bowling - which was really fast that day!Shane JurgensenFormer Bangladesh head coach, current New Zealand bowling coach We were playing T20s in Ireland in 2012, and Mashrafe had just returned from an injury. In the first couple of games he struggled a little while bowling, so he was mentally down about it. During a team dinner before the next game, we spoke for ages, and I remember on the bus ride home he opened up about his numerous operations, most of them with no support to and from the hospitals, and then rehab. I was taken aback by his story. He is truly inspirational and you could tell he was a deep thinker, smart and extremely determined.Next day, in the third T20, he smashed a couple of big sixes and bowled beautifully under pressure to close out the game at the death, and all the self-doubt went out the window. He came into the dressing room, gave me a high five and a hug and said, as he always said, Bowling Shane!Bowling Mash, I replied.It was just one of those things we did.Shahriar Nafees, Bangladesh team-mate I returned from the Indian Cricket League in 2010 and had been in a national team training camp when news came that Tamim Iqbal wouldnt be available for the series against New Zealand. Mashrafe bhai had returned as captain. One of those days he called me into the dressing room when no one was around and told me that he had spoken to the selectors about me and wanted me to return to the team. I believe in you, he said.I cant explain how much it motivated me. I went on to be selected and I did quite well in that series. This is what Mashrafe bhai does to players. He can motivate them in many ways. I think this is why the team has been doing so well in the last two years.Khaled Mahmud, Former Bangladesh captain and current manager Fifteen years ago we were in India for an A team tour, just before the Test series against Zimbabwe in which Mashrafe would make his Test debut.We were having dinner on the balcony of the Cricket Club of India in Mumbai when the clubs president, Raj Singh Dungarpur, walked up to us and asked who the captain of the team was. I stood up and shook his hand. He said, Please play well tomorrow. Dont lose too badly.Mashrafe was just a kid back then. He asked me what was being said, and I told him. I think Mr Dungarpurs words did us a huge favour that day. Mashrafe bowled really fast in that game, and took three wickets. I have seen Taskin bowl, but in those days, Mashrafe was really quick. That day, Mashrafe showed us how good he would be for Bangladesh.Abdur Razzak, Bangladesh team-mate and long-time friend We have known each other most of our lives. We have bowled together plenty of times too, but what most people dont know is that we also shared a few 50-run stands.Once in Kenya we were in a tight spot chasing 185 runs. We needed another 50 runs when I arrived at the crease, with two wickets in hand. Nobody really believed that we could win that game. All we did was tell each other to stay there till the end. We did, shared a 51-run stand, and Bangladesh won. I didnt make much but he was unbeaten on 43.Debbabrata Mukherjee writer of Mashrafes first biography I have known Mashrafe since 2002, but two years ago I went to his home town, Narail, for the first time to research his biography. He usually stays with his maternal grandparents, where he grew up. When I got there, he took out his motorcycle and gestured for me to sit behind him.From the stories Ive heard, I was a bit apprehensive about the ride, but I went along. A few hundred yards down the road, he headed into the jungle on a makeshift road made of bricks laid down. I asked him where we were going.You will see, he replied.The motorcycle skidded and slipped as we tore along. I sat tight.Suddenly he stopped. I could sense that there was a river in front of me but it took me a while to get a good look, since it had become dark by then. Mashrafe looked like he had come to his natural habitat.This is the Chitra River, the love of my life, he said.Ariful Islam Roney Cricket writer Mashrafe had been asking me for a long time to visit Narail, so he could show me his fish farm and his vegetable and sesame fields. Finally, after the BPL in 2015, I was able to take the trip.The plan was to drive from Mirpur to Mawa Ferry Ghat, and then we take a speedboat to cross the Padma River, and then another car from the other side. He drove us to Mawa, seeming like a sprightly kid going back home from hostel.In the speedboat, he kept telling the driver to go faster, and at one point, he managed to get behind the wheel despite our protests. Suddenly the boat spun 180 degrees, tilting dangerously to one side. The boatman managed to get it steady just in the nick of time. While the rest of us were left horrified, Mashrafe laughed uncontrollably.None of us in the boat, except perhaps for the boatman, knew how to swim.Zahid Reza Babu Cricket organiser and Mashrafes guardian in Dhaka in the early days Mashrafe was playing New Zealand in 2008, and we had a deal that if he took a five-wicket haul, he would pay me Tk 25,000. He had taken four wickets in the first game and was bowling the final over of the innings. Off the fifth ball, Mahmudullah dropped a sitter at deep square leg.I was standing under the press box at the end of the innings. He walked a long way towards me with a smile on his face, and said, So how are you feeling right now? Your 25,000 just slipped away.I couldnt stop laughing that day.Rajib Biswas Raju Childhood friend This was from a few years ago. Mashrafes had come to Narail for a short vacation, but as usual, he rounded us up for a bit of stretching and warm-ups on the local ground. We were on the way from his house when a bus from Dhaka stopped next to us, near the house of someone we knew, whose mother we then saw get off the bus.She was about 65. The bus helper had put her bags, five of them, on the road. The house was close, but she couldnt have carried those bags on her own. Mashrafe, who had seen all of it, took her bags to the house. For me, it showed what kind of person he is. He might have been one of the most recognisable faces in the country, but he is a human being first - a really good one.Mashrafe Mortaza When touring England in 2005, we were put up in Lumley Castle in Durham. People said the castle had ghosts, and we had heard a lot of stories about it.One night I asked my friend Rana [the late Manzarul Islam] to record his voice in the spookiest manner he could think of. Then we went to a room where Aftab Ahmed and a few other players were. I tapped on their window and played the recording. Within seconds the lot of them ran out of the room.Then I went to Javed [Omar] bhais room and played the recording outside it. From inside, I heard him shout, Mashrafe, we know its you. Go away! But he didnt come out, and I knew it was because he wasnt really sure if it was me.Then I went to Sumon bhais [Habibul Bashar] room. As soon as he opened the door, he saw a figure wrapped in a white sheet. He was there with his wife and naturally they were frightened.The next morning I didnt dare go to the breakfast room for fear of what they all might do to me.Whats your favourite Mortaza memory? Damian Lillard Jersey . Coach Mike Munchak says Fokou stretched ligaments in his left knee Oct. 13 against Seattle, which could keep out up to five weeks even though the linebacker didnt need surgery. Bill Walton Blazers Jersey . Catch all the action on TSN2 at 11pm et/8pm pt. 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FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- Brandon Marshall is just happy to be walking, and without a limp.The New York Jets wide receiver will be even more thrilled if his sore left knee is healed enough for him to play Sunday at Kansas City.My belief and the school I come from is: Dont rule me out until Sunday, Marshall said Monday. I need all the way up until pregame warmups to see if Im good to go. Hopefully, Ill be granted that wish. But maybe Ill get out there Wednesday, Thursday. You never know with these things.Marshalls knee twisted awkwardly under him after a catch last Thursday night at Buffalo and he left the game briefly before returning. But not before some scary thoughts ran through the 32-year-old receivers head.I not only thought my knee was messed up, I thought my foot and everything was pretty much gone, he said. It felt that way for a couple of minutes. I knew I was OK when I was able to get back on the field.The fact he returned to the game was stunning, especially since replays of the injury had many speculating that it could be serious.Anything better than having surgery is a blessing, Marshall said. I smile and I keep looking at that picture and that play, and Im just so thankful that Im still able to be in this locker room preparing with the guys.Its a blessing, Im going into Year 11, and I just didnt want it to end that way. Anything other than surgery is going to keep a smile on my face.Neither Marshall nor coach Todd Bowles were certain if the receiver will be able to play, with Bowles saying that the teams first official injury report of the week comes out Wednesday. Bowles did deny a report that Marshall has an injured medial collateral ligament, but wouldnt clarify the nature of the injury.Marshall did not practice Monday, as expected, but said that the knee feels stable. He didnt need an MRI, and doctors think the knee is fine structurally.I had a limp a couple of days ago, he said, and now Im walking without a limp, so thats promising.Marshall said hell rely on Bowles and the doctors to determine whether hell be able to play, but made iit clear that hed be out there against the Chiefs if the decision were left to him.dddddddddddd.Ive always prided myself on being tough and being out there no matter whats going on, and being relentless with my rehab, he said. If I take any time off, I may not have a job.While thats a bit of an exaggeration, considering he set franchise records last season with 109 catches and 1,502 yards receiving, Marshall is using the play of his teammates as motivation.Eric Decker has eight catches for a team-leading 163 yards and two touchdowns, while Quincy Enunwa leads the Jets with 13 receptions for 146 yards and a TD.I hear Quincy in the background saying, `Im taking your spot, Marshall joked. And I hear Decker saying, `Im the guy. So I cant take any time off. ... Im really like the third receiver, the way theyre playing. ... The second thing I think about is, this is all Ive got. Im going on Year 11. I cant afford to be standing on the sideline. Youve heard the story: I havent been to the playoffs, and its my fault that none of my teams have been to the playoffs. I dont want that to happen again this year.I want to take advantage of the opportunities that I have because there are not a lot left.Bowles said the Jets wouldnt necessarily worry about a reoccurrence or lingering of the injury when determining Marshalls availability.Ill be able to tell whether he will be healthy enough to play, Bowles said, or whether hes not going to be able to play.In other injuries, Decker has a sore shoulder that kept him out of practice. Bowles said the injury occurred against the Bills, and wasnt sure if it would keep Decker sidelined beyond Monday.Left guard James Carpenter (strained calf) and linebacker Erin Henderson (foot) didnt practice. Rookie outside linebacker Jordan Jenkins, who hasnt played yet, is progressing, according to Bowles and could be closer to making his NFL debut.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '