Marylebone Cricket Club cricket team in Bangladesh in 1980-81

The tour started immediately after Christmas and ended in Mid January. Micheal Mens, a member of the 76-77 MCC team was the captain of the side. The side included three former test players, Jameson, John Hampshire, and Richard Hutton(the son of Sir Len Hutton).

cores in Brief

In the first match, The central zone just managed to avoid defeat. The fearsome bowling of the tall fast bowler Wilson created havoc in the local camp.

At Faridpur, in the first innings the MCC batting collpased badly against the medium pace of Obaidul Haq Azam. His 7/18 was the best bowlng by a Bangladeshi bowler at the time, breaking Syed Ashraful's 7/23 in the 1979 ICC Trophy against Fiji. Also, this match marked the international debut for Gazi Ashraf Lipu. He went to play a significant role in the development of Bangladesh.

The Chittagong match was abandoned early on the 2nd day due to bad weather.The infamous weather of Chittagong intervened to spoil the match. Raquibul Hasan was specially unlucky, as he looked set for his first hundred in Bangladeshi colors.

The drawn match at Rajshahiwas dominated by the spinners of both the sides. The slow turning pitch made strokeplay extremely difficult. Bangladeshi top order batting collapsed against the spin of Montrieth on the 1st day. But the lower order, led by captain Hira and ever reliable Jahangir Shah fought back. Off spinner, Anwarul Amin Azhar showed class during the MCC innings. Only the veteran, Jameson, on his 2nd tour of Bangladesh could handle him properly. Azhar is widely regarded as the best Banggladeshi spinner of the decade. [ [http://www.thedailystar.net/magazine/2006/05/02/sports.htm] : Rafiqul Ameer."Looking Back: Bangladesh Cricket in the 80's". Retrieved on 2008-07-14.]
Bangladesh batting collapsed again in the 2nd inning, but young Mujibul Haq stood firm to save the match.

Raquibul Hasan scored half centuries in each innings at Dhaka. He got good support from the opener Yousuf Babu in the 2nd inning. But the match belonged to Mark Nicholas. Batting at number three, the Hampshire batsman amassed the first international century at Dhaka since the independence of Bangladesh in 1971.

The only match to produce a result was the One day Match where the inexpereicne of the local players in the shorter version of the game was exposed. . [Hasan Babli. "Antorjartik Crickete Bangladesh". Khelar Bhuban Prakashani, Novermeber, 1994. ]

These matches saw the emergence of a number of talented youngsters in Bangladesh cricket, like Gazi Ashraf Lipu, Rafiqul Alam, Mujibul Haq, Nehal Hasnain, Obiadul Haq Azam, Nadir Shah, & Manjur Ahmed Manju. While some of them failed to live up to the expectations, Lipu, Rafiq & Nehal went on to play vital role in Bangladesh cricket throughout the 80's. [ [http://www.thedailystar.net/magazine/2006/05/02/sports.htm] : Rafiqul Ameer."Looking Back: Bangladesh Cricket in the 80's". Retrieved on 2008-07-14.]

References