It's been 10 Years! Test Status!

[Nocturnal]

This is what "The Independent" wrote on 27 June 2000: link

Thousands of cricket-loving fans sang and danced on the streets of Dhaka, the Bangladesh capital, yesterday as they celebrated their country attaining the status of the 10th Test-playing nation.


Carrying the green and red national flag, banners and portraits of cricket heroes, the supporters lit firecrackers and partied in the streets as reports reached the Bangladesh capital that the International Cricket Council, the sport's world governing body, had decided to grant them Test status at their meeting in London.


The announcement sparked wild celebrations among the fans, players and officials that had spent the day at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka watching the updates of the ICC meeting, broadcast live on a giant screen.

After few months later, the special day came: 10th Nov 2000. We played our first ever TEST (against India). I was there, watched the history making. Please share your moments from 10 yrs back!!

[Nocturnal]

Bangladesh's 1st test score card: link

Article after Day 1: A satisfying first day of Test cricket for Bangladesh - link

Article after First Test: Long and arduous road ahead for Bangladesh - link



Aminul Islam Bulbul is only the third batsman in Test cricket history to scored a century on debut. His 145 against India in November 2000 is the second highest debut score after Australian Charles Bannerman’s 165 back in 1877.

[Dilscoop]

I watched it on TV. I was very enough. I hardly remember anything. I was still learning the basic rules of cricket, trying to learn the ODI format. But than came this so called TEST thing. They bat twice? What? I was very confused. I was making all kind of stupid comments. I remember Sachin getting out, everyone went nuts. I also remember Bulbul getting out. I remember Bashar vs Agarkar "fight"

That's all I can remember

[napoleonIV]

Don't want to be the spoil-sport here..but I believed at that time....and still believe that....

1. We were given test status before we were ready. We had no first-class system in place. Our whole claim was based on a win against Pakistan in the World Cup. Don't want to devalue that win..but that was a kind of ''dead" match for the Pakis as they had little to gain from it as far as the tournament was concerned (they were already through).

2. Based on performance alone, Kenya should have been given test status ahead of us. They had two victories against test-playing nations before we had any. Also, look at Zimbabwe. If test-status could have been given based on a single fluke win at world-cup, then they should have got that after beating Australia in WC 83. Instead they had to wait almost a decade !

[magic boy]

Originally Posted by napoleonIV
Don't want to be the spoil-sport here..but I believed at that time....and still believe that....

1. We were given test status before we were ready. We had no first-class system in place. Our whole claim was based on a win against Pakistan in the World Cup. Don't want to devalue that win..but that was a kind of ''dead" match for the Pakis as they had little to gain from it as far as the tournament was concerned (they were already through).

2. Based on performance alone, Kenya should have been given test status ahead of us. They had two victories against test-playing nations before we had any. Also, look at Zimbabwe. If test-status could have been given based on a single fluke win at world-cup, then they should have got that after beating Australia in WC 83. Instead they had to wait almost a decade !

what about the popularity of cricket in Bangladesh? I think that was also a big supporting point for our test status.and Test status has enriched our cricket as well which could not be smiler effective in case of Kenya.I think ICC had a bright future plan with our cricket and they are right you see !!

[napoleonIV]

Originally Posted by magic boy
^what about the popularity of cricket in Bangladesh? I think that was also a big supporting point for our test status.

Don't you find it a bit demeaning that we had to use "popularity" to justify our test status?? Correct me if I am wrong, but as far as I know, no other nation had to use this point to gain test status.

[Nocturnal]

Originally Posted by Dilscoop
I watched it on TV. I was very enough. I hardly remember anything. I was still learning the basic rules of cricket, trying to learn the ODI format. But than came this so called TEST thing. They bat twice? What? I was very confused. I was making all kind of stupid comments. I remember Sachin getting out, everyone went nuts. I also remember Bulbul getting out. I remember Bashar vs Agarkar "fight"

That's all I can remember

haha..I had the same problem...not fully understand test cricket until I bought the "Cricket Rule Book" a Bengali version...it was in early 90's

So, I went to BNS on 10th Nov 2000 with few of my friends. We sat in East gallery. We were all too excited to understand what was happening atm. Bangladesh playing test match. Sachin/ Dravid/ Ganguly playing against Us. it was too huge to digest I guess. One funny thing happened - they had 10 parachute jumper with 10 test playing flag and one of them landed outside of the stadium.....lol

It was a great first day, we scored 239/6 with Bashar and Bulbul 50+ score.

[magic boy]

Originally Posted by napoleonIV
Don't you find it a bit demeaning that we had to use "popularity" to justify our test status?? Correct me if I am wrong, but as far as I know, no other nation had to use this point to gain test status.

No other nations are as stable as BD to continue test cricket effectively. Bangladesh cricket has been proving so on many occasions in this 10 years of journey.And current stats and match results (2009-2010) indicates we will do better in future.AND ICC with full of intelligent cricket heads wished us to do so by giving the test status.and we are doing according to their guideline/wish. BECAUSE they got the power to withdraw it anytime or keep us away from Test cricket like Zimbabwe.So see ICC actually gambled with it and successfully won it ! But It could be(and still it is) a big risk to give the test status to Kenya.

ICC noticed potentiality in us and they trusted us.If it was all about cricket then why Pakistan is now deprived of hosting cricket at home? Why cant they host world cup? Because you have to secure other things as well. not just cricketing ability !!Bangladesh got full marks on it !:-)

Popularity is a big issue that encouraged ICC to take the experimental risk to give us the test status. And due to this popularity and love for the game we have done well.

Sometime you have to treat the poor last boy benched at corner in alternative way. not typical way !!

[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!

[BANFAN]

oh .... i still remember those days. Was so happy, because I was always following test cricket from school days. Ind, Pak, WI etc. Getting a test status meant so much. Have lost some of those passions due to lack of progress; Or may be progress is ok but didn't meet expectations. Yet I feel happy remembering that day.

[Rabz]

I was there !! In the stadium !!
10th of November 2000.
Was part of that history.
Its one of those days you dont forget.

[Naimul_Hd]

Seems like it was yesterday !!

[mac]

Oh I remember the first test totally!!! I was in class 5!

[beshideshi]

I agree the test status was a bit pre-matured for us, only because you have a good future does not mean you will be given test status and lose to Zimbabwe by an innings within 3 days. I think around 2005 would have been a good time to be given test status, our win-loss ratio will look atrocious for years to come due to our horrendous performances in the first 5-6 years, but that is solely my opinion.
On the other hand, I was overjoyed on 10th November, 2000. Every single delivery was followed with great interest, I remember at one stage India were 230-240 runs behind and the scoreboard showed "40~ more needed to avoid follow on", that truly was a remarkable moment for me. But the second innings was like a bucket of cold water splashed on our faces to bring us back to reality, from that day Bangladesh have come a very, very long way. If we consider the percentage a team has grown over the past decade, we would have to be #1[eg. a team was rated 3/10 in 2000, is now rated 6/10 in 2010 and had a 100% growth. In that method, I believe Bangladesh have achieved the most growth]

But the best years of Bangladesh are certainly awaiting us, a couple of world class batsmen, combined with, what's shaping up to be an exciting pace attack and leading all of them is the best all rounder Bangladesh could have dream of. I will be surprised if we are not amongst the top 4-5 teams by 2020.

[simon]

i wasnt quite attached to crickt at tht time.

[lamisa]

^^^neither was i . i fell in love with cricket 3 years after our test debut...

[Habib]

I remember our first test match against India quite well. I started to understand cricket since Mini world cup & 99 world cup & was very happy when we got test status. Though TBH I didn't fully comprehend the real extent of importance of test status at that time, only knew that we'd be playing big teams from then on.

[Baundule]

Personally, I was more happy for beating Kenya in the ICC Trophy final that allowed us to play in the world cup. Achieving test status is good; but I never felt it to be a very sacred thing. More teams should be allowed to play longer form of the game.

It was pretty satisfying that we scored 400 in the first innings. But then came the harsh reality of the 2nd innings all out for <100. So, at the end of the test it left a bitter feeling.

In fact, that has been the story of our test cricket for the past 10 years. We have played well at patches and then undid all the good work. We have got a few players with better quality than the likes of Durjoy or Bikash; but as a team we still play the same.

[napoleonIV]

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!

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.

[Haru-party]

Originally Posted by mac
Oh I remember the first test totally!!! I was in class 5!

me too. amar mone ase ami khela dekhbo kintu ammu jor kore amare kon gramer vitore biye khaite niye gesilo....pore obosso bulbuler century dekhsi...kintu pura mone nai...jhapsa jhapsa.....tendu-r out-ta radio-te shunchilam(current chilona)....indiar last wicket chilo catch....tarpor school theke asihe shuni amra 91 allout(obosso amar abbu agei predict korsilo)...tarpor ar dekhi nai

[Night_wolf]

amar class 7 er final xm choltesilo...valomoto test ta pura dakte parinai...time passes so quickly..

[roman]

We need to thank Saber Hossain for his remarkable speech at the ICC meeting that helped us getting the status.... I was unfortunate enough to miss our first test but I was following cricinfo commentary. Shara raat jege jege khela dekha (score update dekha) tokhon thekei shuru I remember that I didnt have the money to buy a computer so I went to this "Boro Vai's" house to get the updates here in NY as 2000 was my first year of my nomad life..I was over the moon when we scored 400+ runs against India but was so upset when we were bowled out for less than 100 runs in the 2nd innings...

[Murad]

Didn't follow cricket that much after 1997 ICC Trophy. Watched the 99WC game against Pakistan on VHS. I didn't even know we have Test status until in 2002/3. Back then it was so hard to follow cricket in this side of the world. You people in Bangladesh were very lucky to be part of the history.

[Shehwar]

Yep 10 years ... What a debut it was! Bulbul had been my favourite player since '92 from the time I properly understood cricket ... I was praying so hard so that he could get selected for the sqaud in the first place ... His domestic form was terrible coming into the test match and he got selected purely based on his reputation for that test and the rest is history ...

[Dilscoop]

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