Marylebone Cricket Club cricket team in Bangladesh in 1976–77

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) tour of Bangladesh during the winter of 1976/77 marked the entrance of Bangladesh into international cricket. Though the tour was very short, it gave the Bangladeshi players their first taste of international cricket.

Bangladesh invited the MCC in May, 1976 to tour Bangladesh. In June, the International Cricket Council discussed Bangladesh's membership and they decided to wait for the MCC tour before allowing Bangladesh membership.

The MCC team, led by Ted Clarke, arrived at Dhaka on December 27, 1976. On December 29, they left for Rajshahi for the first 2 day match against the North Zone. However, the main attraction of the tour was the three day unofficial test match at Dhaka against the Bangladesh national side.^[1]

Scores in Brief

Date	Match	Venue			Result
Dec 31-Jan 1	2-Day Match	Rajshahi	North Zone: 119 (Omar Khaled Rumy 27, Faruk 23, Raquibul 15, Duff 4/19, Vernonn 3/22) & 185/7 (Declared) (Raquibul 73, Faruk 40*, Pearchud 3/24, Barclay 3/26)	MCC: 123/1 (Declared) (Barclay 60, Norman 55*) & 39/4 (Daulat 2/17)	Match Drawn
3-4 Jan	2-Day Match	Chittagong	East Zone: 162 (Ashraful Haque 68, Shafiq-ul-Haq 26, Shakil Kashem 24, Pearchud 4/36) & 74 (Shamim Kabir 29, Pearchud 6/24)	MCC: 267/6 (Declared) (Hooper 68*, Barclay 60)	MCC wins by an innings & 60 runs
7 - 9 Jan	3-Day Match	Dhaka	Bangladesh: 266/9 (Declared) (Yousuf Rahman Babu 78, Faruk 35, Shamim Kabir 30, Omar Khaled Rumy 28, Pearchud 3/38) & 152/6 (Rumy 32, Shamim Kabir 25)	MCC: 347 (Mens 75*, Norman 74, Barclay 65, Lintu 4/54, Daulat 3/67)	Match drawn
11-12 Jan	2-Day Match	Jessore	MCC: 204/5 (Declared) (Weekes 68*, Clarke 60, Yousuf Rahman Babu 4/37) & 117/4	South Zone: 203/9 (Declared) (Raquibul Hasan 74, Pearchud 4/67) & 72/2 (Raquibul 33*)	Match Drawn

Notes

Raquibul Hasan, one of the most respected cricketers in the country earned the distinction of leading the North Zone side.

Shamim Kabir led Bangladesh in the historical match at Dhaka. The other players were, Raquibul Hasan, Mainul Haque Mainu, Syed Ashraful Haque, Omar Khaled Rumy, SM Faruk, Shafiq-ul-Haq Hira (WK), Yousuf Babu, Daulatuzzaman, Dipu Roy Chowdhury & Nazrul Kader Lintu.

The positive report of the MCC about the condition of Bangladesh cricket helped Bangladesh get associate membership of the International Cricket Council in July 1977.^[2]

References

1. ^ [1]: Rafiqul Ameer."Looking Back: Bangladesh Cricket in the 80's. (Retrieved on 2008-08-08)
2. ^ Hasan Babli. "Antorjartik Crickete Bangladesh". Khelar Bhuban Prakashani, November, 1994.

External links

• Daily Star
• [2] The Three Bangladeshi Batsmen By Rafiqul Ameer