COVENTRY JOINS THE ELITE IN THE BPL

National team contender Charles Coventry has been signed by Duronto Rajshahi to play in the Bangladesh Premier League. The Dhaka based side made a late call up of the naturally gifted pinch hitter late Friday night for an undisclosed fee. Coventry will play in the same team with his Tuskers teammate Sean Ervine and becomes the fifth player to join the elite BPL.

He joins Elton Chigumbura, Hamilton Masakadza, Brendon Taylor and Ervine. This call up gives Coventry a boost in his career after being over looked by the selectors for Zimbabwe’s tour of the West Indies in mid February.

If he makes the team on arrival he will play against the Khulna Royal Bengals on the 25 th of January. The captain is of the Duronto Rajshahi is Simon Katich and his deputy is Tamim Iqbal. The team is coached former national team wicketkeeper Khaled Mashud and the batting coach being former national team spinner and commentator Athar Ali Khan.

Coventry is an aggressive middle-order batsman who can open in one-day cricket and also keep wicket. He was Zimbabwe's youngest first-class player at 15 years 303 days, for Matabeleland in 1998.

Chopper as he is affectionately known in the cricketing circles currently plays for Bulawayo Athletic Club. He was part of the national Under-19 team in the World Cup in 2002, he cherishes the lofted drive but is yet get the discipline required of a consistently successful batsman. Coventry has played two Tests against India in September 2005, after the mass exodus of the then senior players.

 Coventry like many other Zimbabwean players went to play club cricket in England and wasn't part of the senior Zimbabwe side for three years. He made a headline-grabbing return in August 2009, equalling the record for the highest individual ODI score by blasting an unbeaten 194 in the fourth match against Bangladesh in Bulawayo.