Scores in brief
| Date | Match | Venue | Result | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 29-30 | 2-Day Match | Mymensingh | MCC: 136 (Mark Nicholas 39, Mence 33, Yousuf Babu 3/21) & 89/4 (Decl) (Plumb 33, Dipu Chowdhury 2/21) | Central Zone: 73 (Manju 30, Wilson 4/22) & 120/9 (Ashraful Haque 21, Wilson 4/18) | Match Drawn |
| 2-3 Jan | 2-Day Match | Faridpur | MCC 79 (Azam 7/18, Azhar 3/24) & 199/5 (Asif Din 46, Azam 2/46) | BCCB: 187/4 (Decl) (Mujibul Haq 45, Raquibul Hasan 40*, Gazi Ashraf Lipu 25) | Match Drawn |
| 5 - 7 Jan | 3-Day Match | Chittagong | Bangladesh 281/6 (Raquibul Hasan 78*, Yousuf Rahman Babu 54, Nick Stewart 3/48) | MCC DNB | Match drawn |
| 9-11 Jan | 3-Day Match | Rajshahi | Bangladesh 216/8 (Mujibul Haq 38, Jahangir Shah Badsha 36* Shafiq-ul-Haq Hira 33, Dermott Monteith 7/64) & 132 (Mujibul Haq 30*, Needham 4/26) | MCC 255 (Jameson, 73, Azhar 6/58) & 37/2 | Match Drawn |
| 13-15 Jan | 3-Day Match | Dhaka | Bangladesh 143 (Raquibul Hasan 51) & 198/6 (Raquibul Hasan 51, Yousuf Rahman Babu 50) | MCC 290/6 (Decl.) (Nicholas 148*, Richard Hutton 50*) | Match Drawn |
| 17Jan | 1-Day (40 overs) Match | Dhaka | Bangladesh 141/8 (Rafiqul Alam 27) | MCC 142/4 (Lewis 38*). | MCC won the match by 6 wickets. |
In the first match, Central Zone just managed to avoid defeat. The fearsome bowling of the tall fast bowler Wilson created havoc in the local camp.
Peter Hugh L'Estrange Wilson played first-class and List A cricket for Surrey and Somerset in England and for Northern Transvaal in South Africa. He was born at Guildford, Surrey.
At Faridpur, in the first innings the MCC batting collapsed 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 record of 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 cricket.
Faridpur is a district in south-central Bangladesh. It is a part of the Dhaka Division. It is bounded by the Padma River to its northeast. The district is named after the municipality of Faridpur. Historically, the town was known as Fatehabad. It was also called Haveli Mahal Fatehabad.
Gazi Ashraf Hossain, commonly known as Lipu, is a former Bangladeshi cricketer who played and captained the Bangladesh national cricket team in its first seven One Day International (ODI) matches, two in the 1986 Asia Cup, three in the 1988 Asia Cup, and two in the 1990 Austral-Asia Cup.
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 colours.
Chittagong, officially known as Chattogram, is a major coastal city and financial centre in southeastern Bangladesh. The city has a population of more than 2.5 million while the metropolitan area had a population of 4,009,423 in 2011, making it the second-largest city in the country. It is the capital of an eponymous District and Division. The city is located on the banks of the Karnaphuli River between the Chittagong Hill Tracts and the Bay of Bengal.
The drawn match at Rajshahi was dominated by the spinners of both the sides. The slow turning pitch made strokeplay extremely difficult. The Bangladeshi top order batting collapsed against the spin of Dermott Monteith 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 Bangladeshi spinner of the decade. [2] The Bangladesh batting collapsed again in the 2nd innings, but young Mujibul Haq stood firm to save the match.
Rajshahi is a metropolitan city, and a major urban, commercial and educational centre of Bangladesh. It is also the administrative seat of eponymous division and district. Located on the north bank of the Padma River, near the Bangladesh-India border, the city has a population of over 763,952 residents. The city is surrounded by the satellite towns of Nowhata and Katakhali, which together build an urban agglomeration of about 1 million population.
James Dermott Monteith was an Irish international cricketer. Monteith was a right-handed batsman who bowled slow left-arm orthodox. Monteith was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution and Queens University Belfast.
Jahangir Shah Badsha is a former Bangladeshi cricketer who played in 5 ODIs from 1986 to 1990. He is sometimes known on scoresheets by his nickname Badshah.
Raquibul Hasan scored half centuries in each innings at Dhaka. He got good support from the opener Yousuf Babu in the 2nd innings. But the match belonged to Mark Nicholas. Batting at number three, the Hampshire batsman amassed the first century by an MCC player against Bangladesh. The only match to produce a result was the one-day match where the inexperience of the local players in the shorter version of the game was exposed. [3]
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, and 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 80s. [4]
