# Aminul Islam (cricketer, born 1968)

Mohammad Aminul Islam (Bengali: মোহাম্মদ আমিনুল ইসলাম; born 2 February 1968) popularly known by his nickname 'Bulbul' is a former Bangladeshi cricketer and captain.
Aminul Islam scored the first hundred for the Bangladesh cricket team when Bangladesh played their first Test against India, thus becoming only the third cricketer after Charles Bannerman and Dave Houghton to score centuries on their own and their country's test debut. He was one of Bangladesh's most celebrated cricketers in the pre-Test-status era.

## Early years

Just two years after quitting soccer due to an injury, Aminul Islam (commonly known as Bulbul) saw himself representing International Cricket Council (ICC) Associates Young Cricketers' squad in the first-ever Youth World Cup held in Australia where he took six wickets with his off spin, one of which was that of Brian Lara. The same year he made his ODI debut for the national Cricket team at Chittagong in the Asia Cup (1988). He scored 27 runs in the match against Sri Lanka.
A year later, he scored a century against Malaysia in the U-19 Asian cup. In 1995, he scored a century against the visiting England A side in a three-day match at Dhaka.

## In ODIs

Despite the fact that his ODI career started in 1988, and went on until 2001–02, he played only 39 ODI matches. This was due to the fact that before becoming a full member of ICC in 2000, Bangladesh seldom got a chance to play official one day internationals. Over the years, Bulbul's role in the side changed. In the initial years, he was a lower order batsman and off spin bowler. In later years, he mainly concentrated on his batting. His highest ODI score, 70, came against India at Mohali in 1998. His best bowling figures, three wickets for fifty seven runs (3/57), were against Zimbabwe at Nairobi in October 1997.
Career ODI batting performances:
100 / 50 :
| Australia | 2 | 54 | 54.00 | 41* | 0/0 |
| England | 1 | 30 | 30.00 | 30 | 0/0 |
| India | 8 | 277 | 46.17 | 70 | 0/2 |
| Kenya | 5 | 93 | 23.25 | 37 | 0/0 |
| New Zealand | 2 | 45 | 45.00 | 30* | 0/0 |
| Pakistan | 8 | 124 | 15.50 | 42 | 0/0 |
| Scotland | 1 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0/0 |
| Sri Lanka | 5 | 62 | 12.40 | 29 | 0/0 |
| West Indies | 3 | 68 | 22.67 | 66 | 0/1 |
| Zimbabwe | 4 | 41 | 10.25 | 16 | 0/0 |
| Overall | 39 | 794 | 23.35 | 70 | 0/3 |

## In ICC Trophy

Bulbul represented Bangladesh in three ICC trophy tournaments, in 1990, 1994 and 1997. However, he failed to perform up to expectation in both 1990 and 1994. But, after a slow start in the 1997 event in KL, he came good in the big matches. In the semi-final against Scotland he scored 57 runs, sharing 3rd wicket stand of 115 runs partnership with Khaled Mashud Pilot. In the final, he scored a quickfire 37 runs out of 37 balls (with 1 six and 1 four). He shared a 53 run 4th wicket partnership stand with skipper Akram Khan.
| | | Batting | Batting | Batting | Batting | Bowling | Bowling | Bowling | Bowling |
| Year | Matches | Runs | Average | Highest Score | 100 / 50 | Runs | Wickets | Average | Best |
| 1990 | 5 | 88 | 17.60 | 30 | 0/0 | 69 | 1 | 69.00 | 1/17 |
| 1994 | 7 | 143 | 23.83 | 74 | 0/1 | 31 | 1 | 31.00 | 1/13 |
| 1997 | 10 | 217 | 31.00 | 57 | 0/2 | - | - | - | - |
| Overall | 22 | 448 | 24.89 | 74 | 0/3 | 100 | 2 | 50.00 | 1/13 |

## As a captain

He took over the captaincy of the national team in 1998. He was the captain of the Bangladesh cricket team in the 1999 Cricket World Cup.
| Preceded byAkram Khan (cricketer) | Bangladesh ODI captains 1999–2000 | Succeeded byNaimur Rahman |
| Preceded by- | Bangladesh WC captains 1999 | Succeeded byKhaled Mashud |

## As a coach and instructor

Aminul Islam is one of Bangladesh's most qualified coaches at the moment and currently serves as ICC's Cricket Development officer for China, Hong Kong, UAE, Singapore, Thailand and Myanmar. He completed his Level-1, Level-2 and Level-3 coaching degrees from Cricket Victoria and has trained club sides in Melbourne and Sydney. He finished the initial two levels of instructing courses from Cricket Australia in 2005. He began working for the Asian Cricket Council improvement program and furthermore finished the renowned Level-3 instructing a course in 2009. In eight years at the ACC, he led around 80 training courses in Afghanistan, Brunei, China, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, and the UAE. He became Asian development manager for the ICC in 2016. As of 2023, he lives in Australia.

## Football career

Before becoming a prominent figure in Bangladeshi cricket, Aminul played football at domestic level. As a striker, Aminul represented Gendaria Famous Club in the Pioneer League and was league top scorer once. In 1986, he played for East End Club in the First Division, however, he was unable to help the club avoid relegation. The following year, he joined Victoria SC and remained a First Division player, however, he suffered a major injury while playing against Mohammedan SC, which ended his football career.