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From the Press box by Sa'adi Thawfeeq

International Cricket Council (ICC) chief Ehsan Mani and his sidekick Malcolm Speed, the chief executive have thrown their weight behind Bangladesh and are probably right in saying that Bangladesh's admittance into the Test fold was not a wrong decision by cricket's ruling body.

Everyone including Mani had been critical of Bangladesh's promotion as a full member of the ICC in the past. But recent performances in Tests against Pakistan and England indicate that they are bound to improve with time and before long, offer much stiffer competition to the rest of the full members. Bangladesh's Test cricket started showing improvement after they signed Dav Whatmore as national coach early this year.

Everybody knows what Whatmore did to Sri Lanka. He converted the team from a bunch of whipping boys into world champions when they won the World Cup in 1996. Even during his second phase as coach he did wonders for the team taking them to the semi-finals of the 2003 World Cup and also to the highest position of no. 3 in the ICC championship standings at both levels of cricket - Test and One-day Internationals. It was during Whatmore's period that Sri Lanka also recorded their most consistent run of victories in Tests - ten on the trot against West Indies, Zimbabwe. Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Whatmore is not having immediate success with Bangladesh as he had against Sri Lanka. But the signs are there. It won't be long before Bangladesh turns the corner. It may even be against Sri Lanka who is due to make a two-Test tour there in 2005. Who knows?

Poor record

Since their elevation to Test cricket three years ago, Bangladesh has so far performed poorly losing 25 of its 26 Test matches (15 of them by an innings) and have just a solitary win over Pakistan in the 1999 World Cup out of the 71 one-day internationals it has played against Test nations.

But the two heavyweights of the ICC are not deterred by such figures because they have seen the amount of development that is taking place in Bangladesh for an improvement from their present cricketing standards. Dhaka will soon have its own purpose-built cricket stadium, and four other stadiums across the country are undergoing million-dollar refurbishments. Six indoor practice facilities are also being built.

Mani and Speed on their recent visit to Bangladesh to launch the logo and trophy for the under 19 ICC World Cup which will be held there in February next year, also laid a foundation stone at a site at Mirpur Stadium in Dhaka that will become the home of Bangladesh cricket. Speed said that Bangladesh needed help from the ICC in many ways to develop and, that it was 'wrong to stop the development of assistance of the team'. He also said that now was the time to help Bangladesh 'perform better and hope in two years time they will reach a respectable place in cricket.'

Bangladesh can consider themselves lucky to be playing more Test matches in their primary stage of Test cricket than Sri Lanka. In their first three years at top level cricket from 1982-85, Sri Lanka played seven fewer Tests than Bangladesh and had a record of two wins, nine losses and seven draws.

Bangladesh is fortunate that the ICC Test championship program is in place which affords them the opportunity of playing the minimum of two Tests against all Test-playing nations. Thus, their development as a Test nation can be rapid than Sri Lanka's although they are yet without a Test win after 25 matches.

For years Sri Lanka was confined to just one-off Tests mostly by England, who kept us waiting for 19 years before granting a three-Test series in 2001. Others countries like Australia, New Zealand, India and Pakistan were much obliging, although it took West Indies 11 years to grant Sri Lanka a Test match in 1993.

Whereas Bangladesh has completed 25 Tests in three years, it took Sri Lanka a year longer to achieve that figure. Sri Lanka's progress was also somewhat beset by political unrest which prevented any international tours to the country for five years between 1987 and 1992. Sri Lanka's cricket at international level suffered the most during that period with only 11 Tests being played - all away.

The general opinion is that Sri Lanka should have been granted Test status at least 10 to 15 years before. Had it taken place in 1965, the year in which they were made an associate member of the ICC, things would have been much different today.

Some of the cream of Sri Lanka's cricketers bestrode the cricket fields during that period, like Anura Tennekoon, Michael Tissera, David Heyn, H.I.K. Fernando, Abu Fuard, Ian Pieris, Neil Chanmugam, Anuruddha Polonowita, Stanley Jayasinghe, Clive Inman, Norton Frederick, Lareef Idroos, Darrel Lieversz, T.B. Kehelgamuwa, Daya Sahabandu, Ranjith Fernando, Ghulam Razick, Fitzroy Crozier to name a few. The cricketers of today are reaping the benefits because of the sweat and toil of these cricketers and many others who played the game for a pittance and, sacrificed their time to put Sri Lanka firmly on the international cricket map.

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