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Originally Posted by Nocturnal
napoleon- Yes, most of us here fully aware that our test status is more political than cricket infrastructure base back in 2000. But you cannot just ignore the popularity and future prospect. I found it irrational when you said Kenya could be 10th test playing nation over us. Only handful people play cricket in kenya and it is all Gymkhana based. Look at them now!
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On the other hand, I find your comment about Kenya rather unfair. It actually shows how much more quality they have (or at least had) given that only a handful of people play the game (according to you) ! From 1996-2003, they managed 5 victories against Test-playing nations (excluding post-2000 Bangladesh). They had the momentum at that point, and certainly things could have only become better if they were given test status. Yes, from a marketing perspective, Kenya was nowhere as attractive as Bangladesh because of sheer population difference. Also, giving BD test status made the Asian block stronger (we all know about the political part - so I won't elaborate on that). But in terms of cricketing quality, you do not need millions of people to play the game to have QUALITY (case in point, New Zealand). If Kenya can produce good performance, should they be barred from Test-cricket just because it is not "that" popular? If that was the yardstick in sports for entry to a higher echelon, then Bangladesh should have been playing the Soccer World Cup instead of USA, specially in the late 80's during those glory days of Abahani-MSC rivalry. Unfortunately for us, quality matters more than popularity for that tournament!
About the current state of Kenyan cricket, pay disputes and things like that have a lot to do with the decline. Many of these issues could have been arrested if they were a test-playing nation.
Again, this is a thread about our entry into Test cricket, not Kenya. So I do not want spoil this occasion by talking about other country. But the thing is, while I was all excited about our first match (reading cricinfo through dial-up agni service!), a tinge of unfairness and injustice was always there in my mind whenever I watched our team play in early 2000's.