Rafique voted best sportsman

Mohammad Rafique has been voted by Bangladesh sports journalists as the best sportsman of 2003. Rafique, the 34-year-old left-arm spinner, whose outstanding performance yielded him 33 wickets in six Tests and 16 wickets in 20 one-dayers last year, was awarded 274 points by the jury. Habibul Bashar came the closest to beating him with 227 points.

Rafique made a great impression with 17 wickets when Bangladesh toured Pakistan in September 2003. His seven wickets at Multan nearly won Bangladesh their first-ever Test, before they were thwarted by Inzamam-ul-Haq's fantastic 138.

Rafique received a trophy and a cash prize of Tk 50,000 from Fazlur Rahman, the State Minister for Youth and Sports. The ceremony, at which many eminent sports personalities were present, was organised by bangladesherkhela.com - the only Bangladeshi sports site in Bangla on the web.