A Look back: The First Ever International Cricket Tournament in Bangladesh
A Look back: The First Ever International Cricket Tournament in Bangladesh
In January 1984, Bangladesh successfully hosted its first ever international cricket tournament; the 1st South East Asian Cricket Cup. Bangladesh won the trophy defeating HK in the final.
The 9 day event was a modest affair; very modest in fact, if we compare it with the gala event that's going on at the moment. Still, this tournament assumes special significance if we consider the fact that by winning this tournament, we qualified for the 2nd Asia Cup in SL, 1986. There, (in March 1986), Bangladesh made their official ODI debut against Pakistan. So, the SEA Cup in 1984 can be considered as a small, but nevertheless, an important step in the development of our cricket. Also, most of the members of the Bangladesh team at the time are still very much involved with cricket administration, and a number of them are (directly or indirectly) involved the WC. So, I thought that it would not be too inappropriate to take a quick glance back at the events of this tournament.
The organizers of the event faced an early setback as Malaysia withdrew at the last moment. So, there were only 4 teams left in the tournament, the Bangladesh National team, the 2nd string Bangladesh team, called the Bangladesh Tigers, Hong-Kong & Singapore. Apart from Dhaka, matches were held at Chittagong and Mymensingh. All the matches were scheduled for 45 overs, each side; but both the games on 17th January were shortened due to bad weather.
The Bangladesh national team, led by Raqibul Hasan was by far the strongest team in the tournament, and won all their matches on their way to lifting the trophy. An important highlight from the team's perspective was the emergence of Gazi Ashraf Lipu as the country's most consistent batsman. After scoring 48 against HK, he followed this with knocks of 36* and 62 against the Tigers. And he scored a classy 40 in the final against HK. In slow wickets, Lipu had to change his batting style. Normally, a free flowing batsman, Lipu had to rely on the pushes and the nudges for his runs here. Despite the slowness of the wickets, opener Yousuf Babu batted with his usual aggression. In his final season in international cricket, he showed consistent form. His highest, 69*came against HK. In contrast, two other veterans of the side, skipper Raqibul and Omar Khaled Rumy, struggled badly. Young Nehal struggled in the opening position, but looked lot more comfortable batting down the order. (For some curious reasons, the Bangladesh selectors throughout the 80's were very fond of experimenting with the opening position. Despite his failure here, Nehal, normally a middle order batsman, was tried again (and unsuccessfully again) as an opening bat against the more powerful Lankan side in March, 1985. During the 1986 ICC trophy, in England, Atahar and Masum, with little previous experience in opening, were tried (unsuccessfully of course) as opening partners for Raqibul, leaving the specialist openers Nobel and Hamin in the benches. Less than 3 months before the ICC trophy, Nurul Abedin Nobel had smashed a match winning knock of 102 against Pakistan Zone A side during the tour of Pakistan). Finally, Belayet Hossain Belal, from Mymensingh, enhanced his reputation as a hard hitting middle order bat, with some useful knocks down the order.
The bowling was dominated by the 4 seamers, Sami, Dipu, Suru and Badshah. Young Suru impressed with 6/10 (including a hatrick) against Singapore on the opening day. The veterans Dipu Chowdhury and Badshah came good in the final, equally sharing 6 wickets in between them. But, there were very little opportunity for the spinners, Azhar and Rumy to show their class. Their time would come later in the season, when together they would destroy a strong Hyderabad Blues batting line up in a 3 day match at Dhaka.
No less important from our cricket's perspective was the performance of the young Tigers'. Sadrul Anam, from Mymenisngh, did a good job as the captain of the side, although his own form with the bat wasn't so impressive. Instead, it was the all rounder Rafiqul Alam who stole the show. Just month's earlier, Rafiq was considered the best batsman of the country. In March, 1983, he fought valiantly against Doshi's spin, while Lipu and Nehal looked completely at sea. But, a terrible slump of his form during the initial stages of the 1983-84 season had seen him relegated to the 2nd string side. With a point to prove to the selectors, Rafiq played some of the best cricket of his life, and was rewarded with 2 MOM awards. His 129 Vs Singapore at Dhaka, was one of the highlights of the tournament. Minhajul Abedin Nannu, the promising all rounder from Chittagong, delighted his home fans with a fine 44 against HK, sharing a 70 run 3 rd wicket stand with Rafiq. Later, he scored a defiant 60 against the national team at Dhaka. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to take his team to the final. But, Nannu was rewarded for his efforts with a place in the Bangladesh team to tour Kenya in February. Less impressive were the performances of two other young cricketers, Azhar Hossain Shantoo & Atahar Ali Khan. Opener Shanttoo struggled in the slow pitches; as for Atahar, his time would come 4 years later, at HK, in the 2nd version of the tournament, where with knocks of 92*, 69* and 64 (in the final), he would finish with the extra ordinary average of 225.00. Back to the 1984 event, WK Hafizur Rahman Sunny impressed, both with his keeping and with his batting. He scored 75 against Singapore at Dhaka, sharing 208 run for the 5th wicket stand with Rafiq. Soon, he became the No.1 WK of the country.
In the bowling department, the Tigers' new ball bowlers, Nawsher Prince from Mymensingh, and Golam Morshed from Chittagong, impressed with their accuracy. They didn't take many wickets, but kept pressure on the opposition batting with their meanness. All rounder Abul Khair Mohon, another left armer, had an outstanding game at Chittagong, against Singapore. His 28 with the bat, and 2/14 with the ball, helped his side win a low scoring match. He was the obvious choice for the MOM award. Wahidul Gani, the brilliant but often erratic leggie, emerged as the Tiger's main strike bowler. His best bowling 5/35 came against our national team. Wahid, along with Rafiq, Nannu and WK Hafiz, were called up for the Kenya tour in February.
The Hong-Kong team faced an early setback losing to the Tigers at Chittagong on the opening day. On the next day, they lost to the main Bangladesh team at Dhaka. Yet, they recovered from these setbacks. They got better and better as the tournament progressed and eventually managed to edge past the Tigers' (in the run rate count) to the final. (This made the organizers happy, after all it wouldn't have been very nice to see the two local teams contest the final). And although they lost the final, they still produced their best performance there. Peter Wood emerged as their most consistent batsman. Teenager Simon Miles showed his talents with a hundred against Singapore. Chris Collins was the fastest bowler in the tournament, and gave his side early breakthroughs in almost all the games. Swann and Jenkins also bowled well, and Peter Andersson impressed as an all rounder.
Singapore was the weakest team in the tournament, and was well beaten in all their games.
Scores in Brief:
Bangladesh Vs Singapore (13th Jan) (Dhaka): Singapore 54 (Suru 6/10) : Bangladesh 58/1 (Yousuf Babu 37): Bangaldesh wins by 9 wickets
Bangladesh Tigers Vs Hong Kong (13th Jan) (Chittagong): Bangladesh Tigers 172 (Minhajul Abedin 44, Rafiq 43) : Hong Kong 108/9 (Peter Wood 42, Wahid 3/16): The Tigers wins by 64 runs.
Bangladesh Vs Hong-Kong (14th Jan) (Dhaka): HK 115 (Dipu 3/24) : Bangladesh 118/3 (Lipu 48, Yousuf Babu 36) ; Bangladesh wins by 7 wickets
Bangladesh Tigers Vs Singapore (14th Jan) (Chittagong) :Tigers 166/7 (Hafiz 38*) : Singapore 94 (Rafiq 4/4) : Tigers wins by 72 runs.
Bangladesh Vs Tigers (15th Jan) (Dhaka) : Tigers 92 : Bangladesh 93/2 (Lipu 35*): Bangladesh wins by 8 wickets
Hong-Kong Vs Singapore (15th Jan) (Mymensingh): HK 221/4 (Miles 106*): Singapore 68 (Jenkins 4/4, Swann 4/22) : HK wins by 153 runs
Bangladesh Vs Singapore (17th Jan) (29 overs per side)(Dhaka) : Bangladesh 182/4 (Belal 75*, Nehal 67*): Singapore 74/8 (Selim 3/8): Bangladesh wins by 108 runs
Bangladesh Tigers Vs Hong-Kong (17th Jan)(30 over per side) (Mymensingh): Tigers 141/8 (Sadrul 35) : Hong-Kong 142/4 (Peter Wood 47) : Hong-Kong wins by 6 wickets
Bangladesh Tigers Vs Singapore (18th Jan) (Dhaka): Tigers 242/7 (Rafiq 129*, Hafiz 75) : Singapore 67 (Wahid 4/15) : Tigers wins by 175 runs
Bangladesh Vs Hong-Kong (19 th Jan) (Dhaka) : Hong-Kong 121 : Bangladesh 125/4 (Yousuf Babu 69*, Belal 36) : Bangladesh wins by 6 wickets
Bangladesh Vs Bangladesh Tigers (20th Jan) (Dhaka) : Bangladesh 226/6 (Lipu 62, Misha 61, Wahid 5/35) : Tigers 150/9 (Nannu 60, Dipu 3/19) : Bangladesh wins by 76 runs
Hong-Kong Vs Singapore (20th Jan) (Mymenisingh): Hong-Kong 240/6 (Anderson 52, Wood 51, Mehta 3/33) : Singapore 123/8 (Collins 3/26) : Hong-Kong wins by 117 runs.
The Grand Finale: Saturday, the 21st January was the final day of the event. A good holiday crowd gathered at the national stadium to cheer the home side. There was international cricket elsewhere, as well, with Pakistan taking on the Aussies at MCG in a 50 over match. One of the guys sitting close us was following that game over radio. (Before the days of Satellite TV and Internet, radio was the only way to follow live cricket abroad). So, while our eyes were at Dhaka, our ears were in Melbourne.
Much to our disappointment, the Pak run chase fell well short of the target, despite the valiant efforts of Javed Miandad. The Paks were having a miserable time down under. In fact, all the 3 test playing nations of the region were struggling badly in the 1983-84 season. SL, still very new in the big league, was struggling to find their feet in the test arena. India, under Kapil Dev, was thrashed 3-0 in a test series at home, by the Windies. Gordon Greenidge, destined for later glory as coach of Bangladesh, led the batting onslaught, while Marshall and Holding proved just too quick for Gavaskar & company.
Here in Dhaka, at least, we could cheer our side on to a victory. Batting first, the HK side immediately lost their opening pair. The departure of Peter Wood for just 5 was a big blow, as he had proved himself to be the most consistent run getter in the tournament for Hong-Kong. Fortunately for HK, the middle order did an admirable job. As the early morning haze gave way to lovely sunshine, the HK batsmen found the conditions more to their likings. The 50 run 4 th wicket stand between Broad-Hurst and Anderson gave the innings some stability; Broad-Hurst top scored with 33, but almost everybody made useful contributions. The Bangladesh side was rather generous in giving away the extras. In fact, Mr. Extra, with 28, was the 2nd highest scorer in the HK innings. The HK side was eventually bowled out for 151, with Dipu 3/17, Badshah 3/29 and Sami 2/31 doing most of the damage.
Throughout the tournament the HK fast bowler Chris Collins had proved himself to be the nemesis of the opposition opening batsmen; and the final was no exception. Opener Misha fell to him, trapped LBW for only 2. But, for the home side, the bigger blow was the departure of Yousuf, bowled by Swann for only 20. Ever since his 78 against MCC, in January 1977, Babu had been a great favorite of the Dhaka crowd. And, he very seldom failed at Dhaka. A year after the MCC match, he scored 37 and 41* against a much stronger SL side, coming desperately close to saving the 3 day match. Here, his departure was followed by the dismissal of skipper Raqibul. The out of form Raqibul managed just 3 runs. And when Lipu fell for 40, to the part time bowler Miles, the home side suddenly found themselves struggling at 82/4. For, the first time in the tournament, the Bangladesh national team found themselves in a bit of bother. One more quick wicket, and the HK side could really fancy their chances. Fortunately, for the home fans, the two batsmen at the wicket, Belal and Nehal, both looked in excellent touch. Earlier in the tournament, the two had shown their class against the Singapore bowling attack, sharing an unbroken stand of 159. And here, they tamed the menace of the HK bowling.
The mid-afternoon sun shone brightly over the national stadium, heralding the news that spring was not far away. In brilliant sunshine, the two Bangladeshi batsmen enthralled the crowd. They started slowly, but then picked up the pace just at the right time. They had contrasting batting styles; tall and lanky, Nehal excelled in driving in the V of the front foot; short and well-built Belal was more of a back foot player, scoring most of his runs square of the wicket. Nehal's game was based on timing; Belal's on sheer power. Together, they ensured that there would be no more panics. The HK bowlers tried their best, but they didn't have enough runs on the board. Both the batsmen fell on the 30's,Belal for 33, Nehal 32. But, by this time we had almost reached our target. Eventually we won by 3 wickets. And as if to emphasis the beginning of new days in our cricket, two youngsters, all rounder Suru, and WK Faisal took us home.
Bangladesh captain Raqibul proudly lifted the trophy. We went home happy, looking forward to playing in the Asia cup against the much stronger opponents from the South Asia regions. Hukuru Miskiiy: The historic treasure of Paradise Island Adventure Travel - Let's Go On An Adventure! Asia Women Tour Introductions Sipadan Water Village: Dive, Relax and Have a Good Time Why many people are into Myrtle Beach short sale? Opportunities for Traveling Nurses in Australia Kerala Tourist Attractions – Top Places that Will Leave You Spell Bound Your Guide to the Australian Museum Honeymoon to Kerala and Its Three Destinations to Explore Budget Villas in Mauritius Chengdu Sichuan China Travel Guide And Tips Luxury Tours India: Discover Exhilarating And Wonderful Land Visit the Most Popular Holiday Spot with Goa Tourism