Tamim flies off to Essex Friday

Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal will fly off to England Friday morning to play for English county side Essex. Tamim received the offer while playing in the 2017 Champions Trophy in June. The NatWest T20 Blast is scheduled to start from Friday so Tamim is likely to miss the first match. He is expected to be available from the second match onwards. The tournament will end on September 3 and Tamim has been contracted for nine matches. Australia are scheduled to tour Bangladesh for two Test matches this mid-August. The left-hander will return home in the first week of August.

---

Also read: Tamim receives offer from Essex for NatWest T20 Blast

---

Before flying to England, the Chittagong lad practised in front of the bowling machine in Mirpur's Indoor Stadium on Thursday. Tamim was in brilliant form in the Champions Trophy, hosted by England and Wales. He was the third-highest run-scorer of the tournament with 293 runs in four innings with an average of 73.25. He was subsequently named in the Champions Trophy best XI. BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury informed that the board has already given Tamim the No Objection Certificate for his Essex stint.

“Tamim applied to the BCB for playing for Essex. The BCB has provided him the NOC and permission to play for Essex,” Nizamuddin told the media on Thursday.

Dutchman Ryan ten Doeschate will captain the side while Tamim will have former England Test skipper Alastair Cook, Ravi Bopara and Ashar Zaidi as team mates. Previously Tamim played for Nottinghamshire back in 2011 where he played five games.