Ashutosh president, Didar GS of Law Reporters Forum

Ashutosh & Didar

Staff Correspondent

Daily Star Senior Reporter Ashutosh Sarkar was elected president and BSS Senior Reporter Didarul Alam general secretary of the Law Reporters Forum yesterday for the term of 2016-17.
A three-member election commission led by Kazi Abdul Hannan held the election at LRF's Annual General Meeting at the Supreme Court Bar Association building in the capital. Other members are MA Noman and Amit Talukder. LRF outgoing president M Badi-Uz-Zaman chaired the meeting while outgoing general secretary Wakil Ahmed Hiron conducted it, says a press release.
Other office bearers include Shamima Akter of Rtv (vice president), Muhammad Yeasin of The Independent (joint secretary), Ahammed Sarwar Hossain Bhuiyan of Bangla Vision TV (treasurer), Fazlul Haque Mridha of Jagonews24.com (organising secretary), Arafat Munna of Janakantha (office secretary) and Ahmed Al Amin of Bangladesh Protidin (publicity and publication secretary).
Executive committee members are Azit Kumar Mohaldar of Daily Shokaler Khobor, Jannatul Panna of Daily Manobkantha, Afzal Hossain of Somoy TV, Zaker Hossain of NTV online and Tanvir Ahmed of Bhorer Kagoj.

LVG challenges Rashford

        UEFA Europa League

Afp, Manchester

Louis van Gaal has challenged young forward Marcus Rashford to show consistency in his Manchester United career following a breathtaking first appearance in the 5-1 Europa League victory over Denmark's FC Midtjylland.
Rashford was only called into the starting line-up for his debut when Anthony Martial injured his hamstring in the pre-match warm-up -- the second successive week United have lost a player in such circumstances after goalkeeper David de Gea pulled out of the first leg.
But the 18-year-old scored two well-taken goals as United won 5-1 on the night, 6-3 on aggregate, to ease through to the last 16 of the competition.
"I've said already a lot of times, that's fantastic for him, but you have to be consistent," said the United manager.
"We are looking for consistent strikers and there are not so many on this earth, but he gave a brilliant performance.
"I didn't have another option so it was easy. He was there on the bench because he was the natural sub for Martial.
"I put (Joe) Riley in there because he is playing left-back in the second team and I have seen him play well, he has been the best player on the pitch, that's what I'm looking at these matches.

"I'm always confident in these players but the first match, they always play well. It is the second or the third match that mostly gives problems. That's why it's a fantastic step for them in their learning process, their development process."

Young full-back Riley was also impressive in the game and van Gaal's mood was helped by the news that Martial's injury does not appear to be too serious.

ICC mulls Test revamp

Agencies, Dubai

The International Cricket Council (ICC) is contemplating coming up with a two-division Test cricket format in order to make the longest format of the game more competitive. The two-division split will allow for relegation and promotion of teams from the respective divisions, reported the Guardian.
The top-seven ranked Test sides will be a part of the first division, while the next three (West Indies, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe at present) will be in the second division. They will retain their Test status and will play alongside the two best teams from the second tier group based on their performance in the Intercontinental Cup. Thus, there will be five teams playing in the second division.
The last placed team from division one will be relegated to division two, while the best team from division two will get promoted. Every team from each division will play a Test series at home or away in the two year period.
The proposal is likely to be put forward in the ICC's annual conference, set to be held in June and could come into effect after the 2019 World Cup.
The plans are still not fool-proof with numerous issues yet to be discussed, especially the financial complications. With some of the boards not in a state to host matches that aren't as lucrative, ICC plans to fund such series.
ICC is also contemplating changes in One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and Twenty20 Internationals, but the design isn't as detailed. One of the options taken into consideration is to have two divisions of six teams each.