a duck and conceding 33 runs from 10 overs as Bangladesh won by five wickets. At the end of the tour, Mortaza was described as "Bangladesh's solitary cutting edge", underlining how important his bowling is to the team. Mortaza was selected as a reserve player for the Asian squad in the inaugural Afro-Asia Cup. He was later drafted into the full squad as a replacement for the unavailable Rana Naved-ul-Hasan. With batsman Mohammad Ashraful, he was one of two Bangladeshi players in the 15-man squad. Sultan Rana, the Asia team manager, described Mortaza as "a very promising prospect, a terrific asset to the Bangladesh team". He played two of the three ODIs where he took Shaun Pollock's wicket in the first one. Further Injuries In September 2005 a back injury meant that Mortaza had to return home from Bangladesh's tour of Sri Lanka before the start of the first Test. It was the sixth time he had been sent home in the middle of a series. The injury—a type of stress fracture expected to take between six and twelve weeks to heal—saw Mortaza unable to play any cricket for several months. He returned to the Bangladesh side in February 2006 for a series of ODIs against Sri Lanka. Australia visited Bangladesh in April 2006 and Mortaza played the whole series. Despite coming close to winning the first Test, Bangladesh ultimately lost both Tests in the series. In the final innings of the first Test, Mortaza dropped a difficult catch off Australian captain Ricky Ponting who went on to see his side to victory with 118 not out. Habibul Bashar, the Bangladesh captain, said of the dropped catch, "If he had taken it we could have seen a different situation, but I must say he tried hard and you all know that he is a whole-hearted cricketer". Bangladesh lost the following three-match ODI series 3–0. In July and August 2006, Bangladesh toured Zimbabwe for a five-match ODI series. In the 3rd ODI, Mortaza was hit for six off the final ball of the match by Brendan Taylor, giving the Zimbabweans victory. With Zimbabwe already winning the series 3–1, Mortaza was dropped for the final match, which Bangladesh went on to win. In the four matches he played in, Mortaza took five wickets at an average of 29.20. Following their defeat by Zimbabwe, Bangladesh faced Kenya in three ODIs, winning them all.