Bangladesh’s first international foray

But their participation didn’t just happen overnight. The Marylebone Cricket Club’s tour of Bangladesh in the winter of 1976 later paved the way for Bangladesh becoming an ICC member. MCC toured Bangladesh in 1978-79 season and there was one tour by Sri Lanka in the previous season. Bangladesh slowly became a determined cricket team, and to boost their fitness the Bangladesh Cricket Control Board (as the BCB was known back then) arranged for a fitness camp in the navy headquarters in the months leading up to the competition. The 1979 ICC Trophy was the first such qualifying tournament for the one-day World Cup of the same year. Bangladesh won two of their group games, but didn’t qualify for the semi-finals but there were many memorable moments including Syed Ashraful Huq taking a seven-wicket haul in their first game against Fiji, which Bangladesh won by 22 runs. Before the tournament started, Bangladesh played six practice matches, five of them against local clubs. Played between May 15 to 23, the opposition were Three Counties Cricket League, Star League, Leicestershire Club Cricket Championship, Pickwick, Wolverhampton and Bermuda. During the tournament Bangladesh also played against Birmingham Municipal Cricket Club, Bromsgrove and St George’s. In the tournament proper however, Bangladesh’s first session went quite badly. They were bowled out for 103 runs in 43 overs of the 60-over one-day game against Fiji. Omar Khaled Rumi top scored with 28 but they slipped to 54 for eight at one stage. But contributions from the tail – Daulat Zaman, Dipu Roy Chowdhury and Ziaul Islam Masud helped Bangladesh past the 100-run mark. Fiji were 53 for three at one stage but they were halted by the offspin of Ashraful, who took seven for 23. It was the best bowling figure in the ICC Trophy for 15 years before Bhawan Singh and Ole Mortensen also took seven-wicket hauls in the 1994 tournament. Ashraful was known as a canny customer, a type of bowler who was hard to get away. It was a rousing start for Bangladesh with the 22-run win. But five days later, they lost to eventual champions Canada in the next game by 49 runs. Pace bowler Jahangir Shah Badshah took four wickets as Canada made 190/9 in 60 overs. Ashraful took two wickets while paceman Masud took one wicket. But Bangladesh’s middle-order gave away quickly despite being one for 50 in their 191-run chase. Raqibul Hasan top scored with 34 but Ashraful’s 23 was the next significant contribution as they were bowled out for 141 runs in 50.3 overs. Bangladesh’s campaign got back on track three days later when they crushed Malaysia by seven wickets at Gorway. The burly paceman Daulat took four wickets while there was one each for Masud, Dipu Roy, Badshah, Ashraful and Rumi. Badshah, sent to open the innings with Raqibul, top scored with an unbeaten 39 while Ashraful made 22 as Bangladesh toppled Malaysia’s 114 in 41.2 overs. At Kings Heath, Bangladesh needed to beat Denmark to have any chance of making it to the semis. In the tough battle, Denmark were restricted to 165 for eight in 60 overs. Keld Kristensen top scored with 74 runs while Daulat took two wickets. Masud, Dipu Roy, Badshah and Rumi took a wicket each. Bangladesh however, faltered right at the end as they lost by 10 runs. They had lost three early wickets but Ashraful and Yousuf Rahman Babu resurrected the chase making 31 and 21 respectively. Towards the end Shafiqul Haque made 20 and despite lower order contributions, they were bowled out for 155 with seven balls to spare. No Bangladesh batsman made it past 100 runs in the tournament with Ashraful’s 76 in the four matches making him their highest run-getter. He was also the highest wicket-taker with 10 scalps while Badshah finished with seven wickets.Bangladesh’s 1979 ICC Trophy squadAshraful Haque, Belayet Hossain, DR Chowdhury, Daulat Zaman, Jahangir Shah, Mujibul Haque, Mustafizur Rahman, Najmun Noor, Omar Khaled, Raqibul Hasan, Shafiqul Haque, Yousuf Rahman, Ziaul Islam.