The is a national
Cricket team representing
Bangladesh . It is administrated by the
Bangladesh Cricket Board .
Bangladesh is a full member of the
International Cricket Council with
Test and
One-day International status. It played its first Test match in
2000 (against
India at
Dhaka ), becoming the tenth Test nation.
Bangladesh's promotion to Test status was controversial, as many regarded the team as too weak to compete against the established Test nations. The fact that the team lost 31 of its first 34 Tests, including a record losing streak of 21 games, has provided fodder for such criticism. The team came tantalisingly close to winning a Test match a few times, but were denied every time until January 2005, when they finally broke the jinx in their 35th attempt and scored their maiden Test victory in
Chittagong against the touring
Zimbabwe Team .
Bangladesh beat
Pakistan by 62 runs during the
1999 Cricket World Cup . Bangladesh managed 223/9 from 50 overs. Pakistan could only manage 161 due to a few run-outs by wicketkeeper
Khaled Mashud and some tight bowling by
Khaled Mahmud , who took 3/31 from 10 overs.
In September, Bangladesh came very close to their first Test victory, when they lost to Pakistan by only one wicket.
In December, Bangladesh defeated India in their 100th ODI, this being only the second time that they beat a Test playing nation.
Early January, Bangladesh defeated Zimbabwe in their 35th Test, their first ever Test match victory. In the first Test of the series, Bangladesh defeated Zimbabwe by 226 runs in
Chittagong Stadium. Bangladesh scored a huge total of 488 in the first innings. In reply, Zimbabwe was all out for only 312 for their first innings. Bangladesh's 2nd innings was declared after scoring 204 for 9 wickets. Powered by a spirited spell from Enamul Haque Jr., who took 6 wickets for 45 runs, Bangladesh wrapped up Zimbabwe's innings for only 154.
Bangladesh would have needed to get the fourth-highest fourth innings total to win in Test cricket history in the second Test of the series. They opted to play out the last four sessions playing conservatively and consequently secured a draw. This gave the team its first Test series win and triggered scenes of wild jubilation across the country. National coach
Dav Whatmore was later quoted as saying that playing overly-aggressive cricket to try to win the Test would not have been a good idea.
Bangladesh also secured their first
One-day International series win in the same tour. Despite losing the first two matches of the five-match series, they recovered to win the series 3-2.
On
June 18 , Bangladesh scored an upset victory over the mighty
Australia in the
NatWest Series . Australia scored 249 runs for 5 wickets in 50 overs. In reply, Bangladesh reached 250 runs with 4 balls to spare.
Mohammad Ashraful scored 100 runs, his first one-day century, off just 101 balls, while
Aftab Ahmed hit a huge six in the first ball of the final over, and hit a single for the next ball to win the game. This win was a triumph for a Bangladeshi team that had been criticised by
Richie Benaud ,
Mike Gatting and others as incompetent and not good enough for Test or ODI cricket in the English media, just days before.
The first home one-day international series of 2006 began with some optimism for Bangladesh, who registered their first-ever win against
Sri Lanka in the second ODI of the series. At the end of March, Bangladesh played four ODIs against
Kenya , winning all four. Then in April, they came very close to beating Australia in a Test match, taking a first-innings lead of 158, and eventually losing by only three wickets.
Bangladeshi captain
Habibul Bashar and coach
Dav Whatmore have said that they hope Bangladesh will become a serious cricketing contender by 2010. Cricket's enormous popularity with the Bangladeshi people has produced a mood of optimism that this ambition will be met. In addition to rising popularity within the population, Bangladesh's U19 team, the stepping stone before the International Test scene, regularly performs well against established Test nation's U19 team. In the recent
U19 World Cup , Bangaldesh were favourites to win beforehand, but fell in the quarter finals to England U19.
Many people hold criticism for the elevation of Bangladesh, yet many forget that it took New Zealand, now a strong international side in both forms of the game, 27 years to win its first Test match.
- 1975 : Not eligible - Not an ICC member
- 1979 to 1996 inclusive: Did not qualify
- 1999 : First round
- 2003 : First round
- 1998: Did not participate
- 2000: First round
- 1979 : First round
- 1983 : 4th place
- 1986 : First round
- 1990 : Semi Finals
- 1994 : 2nd round
- 1997 : Won
- 2001 onwards: Not eligible - Now an ICC full member
- 1999: Not elgible - Not an ICC full member
- 2001/02: 3rd place
- 1984: Did not participate
- 1986: 3rd place
- 1988: 4th place
- 1990/91: 3rd place
- 1995: 4th place
- 1997: 4th place
- 2000: 4th place
- 2004 : 4th place
- 1996: Won
- 1998: Won
- 2000 onwards: Not eligible - Now an ICC full member
- 1986: Did not participate
- 1990: First round
- 1994: Did not participate
- BanglaCricket: Bangladesh cricket news, scores, player profiles, interactive discussion forum, and fantasy games.
- TigerCricket: The Official Website of Bangladesh Cricket Control Board: Among other things, Animated live score
- Cricinfo Bangladesh: Bangladesh cricket news, photos, live scores, profiles, statistics by Wisden Cricinfo
- Bangladesherkhela: A complete sports website in Bangla.
- CricBD: Bangladesh cricket news, scorecards, player profiles and discussion
