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The future looks green, the future looks bright Shameran Abed and Mubin S Khan pay tribute to all those who came before to pave the way for the young tigers of today to blaze away in the Caribbean photo by AFP They bowled with aggression, fielded with determination and batted with élan; what’s more, they played like a team that believes winning, not mere participation, is the ultimate success. That is the essence of how the international media evaluated Bangladesh’s performance in their first match in the 2007 World Cup, against India, at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad and Tobago on March 17. The familiar but frustrating tone of patronisation was not there, as cricketing greats showered praise on the Tigers; however, surprise coated every word they said about the team. And surprise it was, not only for the cricket world but also for most Bangladesh fans. The team that dominated India all through the match was not the one they had become used to watching. Gone were the sloppy fielding, irresponsible batting and innocuous bowling. There were faces they saw and names they heard for the first time in their lives – Syed Rasel, Abdur Razzak, Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Saqibul Hasan. They must have wondered when and how the traditional whipping boys of international cricket had turned into a force to be reckoned with in such a short period of time.    The transformation maybe spectacular but is not in any way sudden. It began way back, when the Bangladesh Cricket Control Board XI played the Marylebone Cricket Club in three-day exhibition series against the Marylebone Cricket Club in the late-1970s. Shamim Kabir, Shafiqul Huq Heera, Roquibul Hasan, Mainul Haque, Khaled Omar Rumi, Syed Ashraful Haq, Yusufur Rahman Babu, Daulatuzzaman, Tanvir Haider, Nazrul Quader Lintu and the likes were on an impossible mission. The mission was not just to play well against the tourists but also to show the people at home and abroad that Bangladesh had a future in cricket. The cricketers fared reasonably well against the former and budding England Test cricketers. Their performance naturally raised the hopes, especially among the fans, that Bangladesh might be on the doorsteps of the game’s Ivy League. The hopes were soon to be belied, rather cruelly.    When Sri Lanka came to visit Bangladesh, they had already proved themselves as a formidable force and were serious contender for Test status. Led by Anura Tennekoon and featuring players like Sidath Wettimuny, Bandula Warnapura, Duleep Mendis and Roy Dias, the team simply tore apart the hosts in the three-day and limited-overs matches. The setback was necessary for it effectively dispelled the euphoria the cricketers, the administrators and, of course, the fans had been in since the series against the MCC. It was also a reminder that international cricket is not a part-time job and requires consistent performance and improvement.    Whatever lesson that the Bangladesh cricketers had learnt in the encounters against Sri Lanka was reinforced when they took part in the first ICC Trophy in England in 1979. They realised that, let alone the club of Test-playing nations, they were not even among the top four of the second rung of international cricket. Of the four matches they played, they lost two — against Canada and Denmark, virtual nobodies of international cricket.        In the next ICC Trophy, three years later, again in England, they fared a lot better and made it to the round of four where they were beaten by the eventual champions Zimbabwe. However, the wheel of fortune turned again three years later. Bangladesh made an early exit, having been beaten by Denmark and East Africa.    The first ICC Trophy to be held outside the United Kingdom came in 1990 when the Netherlands hosted it. There were no illusions that Bangladesh were still to prove themselves as a force to be reckoned with. Even the Dutch had better records as far as the ICC Trophy was concerned, having been the runners-up in the 1986 edition of the tournament. Bangladesh did make it to the semifinal this time around but once again lost to the eventual champions Zimbabwe. The Netherlands were again the runners-up.    Meanwhile, Bangladesh had hosted the MCC, the Hyderabad Blues, the West Bengal Cricket Association, and the Omar Qureshi XI, which was led by Imran Khan and featured a number of Pakistani Test players. They had also tasted their first tournament success becoming champions in the ICC associates championship (Bangladesh went on to successfully defend their title in the next edition of the tournament). As Bangladesh played one series after another, one tournament after, cricket was fast catching up on football in terms of popularity. More people were turning up in the stands, tuning their radios and watching live coverage on television.    The real breakthrough came in 1997 when Akram Khan led Bangladesh to glory in the ICC Trophy in Malaysia. The dream that began in the early 1970s was suddenly closer to becoming a reality. The cricketers effectively proved that they were ready for the big stage.    Three years later, the ICC accorded Bangladesh the Test status.        Life in the Ivy League of cricket started off on a wrong note for Bangladesh, as they were beaten by anyone and everyone. Even Zimbabwe, who were regarded as the other minnows in Test cricket, were head and shoulders above Bangladesh. One defeat was followed by another, one shabby performance by another, the whispers that Bangladesh’s entry into the Test-playing club might have been premature started turning into a din. Former Test players, commentators and experts all joined in. The game’s administrators in Bangladesh were desperate to arrest the downslide and silence the detractors. There were frequent changes of coaches and captain. Different combinations were tried. Amidst the frenzy, came the lowest point in Bangladesh cricket.    In the 2003 World Cup, held in southern Africa, the cricketers were humiliated through and through. After a reasonably good showing in the previous World Cup, where they upset the 1992 champions Pakistan and beat Scotland, Bangladesh could not manage a single win in their five group matches. Even Canada, a cosmopolitan outfit of West Indians and Asians, gave them a sound thrashing. There were calls all over for some sort of a reprieve for Bangladesh from Test cricket until they regained their bearings and proved that they were ready to rub shoulders with the top nations of the game.    The dismal African safari made one thing for sure — the only way that Bangladesh could go was up, as they had already hit the depth. Along with the despair, came desperation. An important page in the history of Bangladesh cricket was about to turn.        After the 2003 World Cup debacle, the cricket administrators realised that the problem had snowballed into a crisis and gone beyond any quick-fix measure. They knew heads must roll but, thankfully, decided to go about the reconstitution in a planned way. A committee was instituted to look into the debacle. The committee recommended wholesale reforms, not a change here or a reshuffle there. The Bangladesh Cricket Board complied.    The journey back from the lurch for Bangladesh cricket had begun.        In hindsight, the disaster in the 2003 World Cup was perhaps necessary for the development the game in Bangladesh; more so, because it gave the administrators of cricket a much-needed wake-up call, impressing upon them the need to be professional, the need for a comprehensive plan of development, and a concerted effort to implement that plan. In response to that call, work has been done in the past four years on several different aspects of the game.    The last World Cup had exposed the limitations of Pakistani Mohsin Kamal as coach, a man who had admitted to not being able to properly communicate with his players. His sacking, along with his deputy Ali Zia, and the appointment of the in-demand Dav Whatmore as coach injected a new vitality to the team.    Whatmore changed the very character of the national team, impressing upon his players the value of hard work and discipline, while allowing them to play their natural game. Whatmore first built a strong nucleus for the team, and then identified young players with promise and potential who could play around that core group. Unlike the Bangladesh teams of the past, in which players would come and go, some passing through for brief periods before disappearing into oblivion, the team now has a much more settled look, with players who are sure of their roles in the team.    This new character has been reflected in Bangladesh’s recent performances, an impressive 22 one-day international wins in the last 12 months out of a total of 31 played.    After the mindless experimentation with the first-class structure in the first few years following the granting of Test status – in one year the first-class competition was made up of a mix of divisional and club teams – it has finally taken a proper shape, with the six divisional sides playing each other on home-and-away basis in a four-day game followed by a one-dayer. The consolidation and concentration of talent in just six top-level sides, as in Australia, has raised the quality of the domestic leagues, reducing the significant gap that had existed between domestic cricket in our country and the highest level in which our players are expected to perform. A considerable gap still exists, however, and having settled on a suitable structure, the cricket board will do well to give domestic cricket in this country a higher profile, which will undoubtedly further raise the quality of cricket played.    Work has also gone in to improve the quality of age-level cricket, with proper coaches being provided to the under-19, under-17 and under-15 teams. Richard McInnes of Australia, who trained the Bangladesh under-19s, did a fantastic job in preparing a large group of potential international stars, and several of his wards including Shahriar Nafees, Saqibul Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim and Shahadat Hossain have already made their way into the national team. The time has come to introduce divisional age-level leagues and competitions, where divisional under-19 or under 17 teams play each other in four-day and one-day games just like their senior counterparts do in the first-class leagues.    There has also been significant cricketing infrastructure development in the past few years, with several new and upgraded divisional cricket grounds capable of hosting international matches, including the upgrading of the Mirpur stadium in Dhaka as an exclusive ground for cricket. Also, there has been an effort to prepare sporting pitches for domestic cricket, which is a commendable move and requires greater persistence. Having allocated a considerable amount of money on developing grounds and pitches, the focus should turn to developing practice facilities, an aspect in which our country is still far behind others. This is particularly important given that the long monsoon season halts all outdoor practice, and indoor facilities are required for cricketers to be able to train all year round.    From improved coaching at all levels to enhancing the quality of domestic cricket to infrastructure development, the positive changes brought about since the last World Cup will serve Bangladesh cricket well in the years ahead. Also, the efforts to corporatise the cricket board are commendable, especially given that it was done at a time when a political appointee headed the board. However, in order to make it a truly professional outfit, the board should be entirely freed from political influence and control, and allowed to be run by cricket administrators, instead of politicians.    There is no doubt that cricket in Bangladesh is on the right track. With better player development, there is no reason why our national team should not catch up with the other top sides in world cricket within the period of a few years. While everyone has very high expectations from the Bangladesh team and expects good results, it would not be fair to judge the progress that our team has made through their performance in the short term. While we may, and hopefully will, see some great performances by Bangladesh in the weeks and months to come, we should keep in mind that the hard work put in by the cricket board, the coaches and the players will produce dividends in the long run.        The team in the 2007 World Cup is the representative of Bangladesh cricket in more than one way. The average age of the team is just 22. Habibul Bashar, Mohammad Rafique and Javed Omar, each of them in their 30s, are now the exception, not the rule. ‘We’ve got a couple of experienced players, but the vast majority of them are under 25, which is absolutely perfect for an emerging team like us,’ Whatmore was quoted by the Agence France-Presse as saying just before the super eights round of the World Cup got under way. ‘… we’ve got the resources and talent to really progress.’    The Tigers have already proved, with their stunning but well-deserved victory over India and subsequent passage to the super eights, that there no ‘muck’ of a side and that they are no longer a side to be taken lightly. The transformation from the whipping boys to a force to be reckoned with has entailed a long, painful journey. That youngsters like Nafees Shahriar, Tamim Iqbal, Aftab Ahmed, Saqibul Hassan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Abdur Razzak, Mashrafee bin Murtaza, Shahadat Hossain and Syed Rasel dare dream of beating the best sides in world cricket may not have been possible had their predecessors not stayed put in the midst of years of humiliation and frustration. The future looks bright for them today because their predecessors carried on in the darkest of hours.