The 15-member squad that was picked by the national selection panel yesterday had little surprise as it included three fresh faces in Junaed Siddique Imroz, Ziaur Rahman and Nazim Uddin.

Junaed and Nazim both looked certain to book their flights to South Africa for the extravaganza of the shortest version of international cricket following a tremendous season.

But Abahani paceman Zia's name hardly came in speculations as Tapash Baisya was expecting a return to the national fold, only to be grounded for lack of fitness.

The selectors had the final say as the ad-hoc committee of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) approved its choice in yesterday's meeting before officially announcing it at a press briefing with media and communications committee chairman Ahmed Sajjadul Alam Bobby and all three selectors present.

"We have mostly picked youngsters. It's a young team but the experience is there," said chief selector Faruque Ahmed.

"It would be an intense competition and we have selected capable players who have proved themselves at different levels.

"Zia has had a good season and he has a bright future," Faruque told of the Abahani fast bowler whose batting down the order would also be handy.

Like Zia, Junaed and Nazim are also tested. Both batted magnificently well in the last domestic league and are in good touch," added the former national captain.

Middle-order Nazim was not only consistent in the league for champions Abahani but also with the A team against England and Sri Lanka while left-handed opener Junaed's power-packed batting helped Mohammedan lift the Twenty20 league title.

"I hope this would prove an exciting team. Kapali's recall would definitely strengthen the middle order and his fielding and leg-break would be a plus point. There was never any doubt about his (Kapali) talent and after a poor season, he made a tremendous comeback and almost made it to the national team again. This is a good time to use his all-round qualities.

"We have a group of players who have all-round capabilities and it is a type of cricket where it would make the difference."

In reply to a question whether he felt comfortable taking only three specialist pacers to South Africa where wickets will be bouncy, Faruque said bowlers had little work in Twenty20s.

"One bowler gets just four overs. We have Forhad (Reza) and Aftab (Ahmed) as backups."

The chief selector, however, had a little worry of how the batsmen would cope with seam-friendly pitches.

"Our batting looks great for conditions of the sub-continent. The bounce the wickets in South Africa offers does not suit us. That is why we tried to increase our batting depth.

"We have two official warm-up games before the tournament and I hope the batsmen adjust fast to the conditions.

In a tournament where batting will dictate the terms, Bangladesh must rely on the established players like captain Mohammad Ashraful, Aftab, Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan and Nadif Chowdhury with all-round support from vice-captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Kapali, Forhad Reza and Mahmud Ullah Riyad.

Apart from Mohammed Rafique who is nursing an injury, the notable omission was Shahriar Nafees who wanted out of the tour on personal reason.

The squad, which will have a boot-camp at Sylhet cantonment from August 11-16, will play a tri-nation tournament in Nairobi involving hosts Kenya and Pakistan from August 31 to September 5 before heading to South Africa.