THROUGH THE COVERS: Test status needs to be precious
By Zaheer Abbas
BY all accounts the triangular in Bangladesh was a non-starter. Who won it and who didn’t was no one’s concern. With the World Cup having just been over, there was hardly anyone dying to watch a minnow side up against two more that were there with unfamiliar looks, though these unfamiliar looks were for different reasons. The net result of the activity is that there will be souls aplenty around the cricketing world who would not struggle to name the ultimate winner. What anyone can say with utmost surety, however, is that Bangladesh would have come third in the triangular. They have shown a great penchant for coming second in a straight contest, third in a triangular, fourth in a four-nation, and so on.
This is not to make light of Bangladesh’s effort to do well in the international arena, for they obviously put in their best efforts every time they take the field, but it is just that their best is not good enough. In fact, it is quite far from anywhere close to being at least acceptable.
I am not surprised at all that their Test status has been called into question in recent times, with some people suggesting that they were never deserved to be in the higher league, and their only purpose in the international arena is to make others set individual and team records playing against them, and for them to claim all kinds of unenviable records, like, for instance, the longest losing streak.
Watching Bangladesh deliver one insipid performance after another year after year has not just been a dull affair; it has been an agony. That even a state side in Australia will destroy them much before the scheduled time, is not to say much, because Australian state sides certainly have the potential to embarrass a few other international outfits as well. The fact is that even of the local sides taking part in Pakistan domestic cricket can have a whale of a time against the Bangladeshis. And that is saying a lot because our domestic circuit is no one’s envy.
I think the ICC needs to have a rethink on the issue of Bangladesh’s Test status if they fail to improve in the near future. That there is no precedent is known to all, but this can’t be a serious argument. After all, there is always a first time for things to happen in certain manner and in certain directions. I am not arguing for a total reversal on the issue. But I would certainly favour the move if the ICC decides to suspend Bangladesh’s Test status for some time, say a couple of years.
This will not just spare us the agony of watching them in action — inaction rather — but would also enable the relevant authorities to pull up their socks and take their cricket a lot more seriously than what appears to be the case right now. On its part, the ICC should also get involved in the effort, and shall help Bangladesh in professional matters, and keep a watchful eye on their progress on the road to rehabilitation at the end of the suspension period.
At their present level of potential, skill and temperament, the Bangladeshis just shall not be allowed to continue in the international arena on the assumption that they will improve only by playing against senior sides. If that is taken to be the criterion, then every nation playing cricket at some level will have the right to claim for itself the coveted Test status. Kenya is already making such a claim, and while they may not have the proper qualifications, they certainly will feel hard done by every time they watch Bangladesh.
What I have suggested may sound a bit too radical a step, which it is, but all radical suggestions shall not be thrown away just for being that. The ICC shall start to gather views on the issue from its member states, and there is no harm in finally placing on its official agenda and let the members decide.
BY all accounts the triangular in Bangladesh was a non-starter. Who won it and who didn’t was no one’s concern. With the World Cup having just been over, there was hardly anyone dying to watch a minnow side up against two more that were there with unfamiliar looks, though these unfamiliar looks were for different reasons. The net result of the activity is that there will be souls aplenty around the cricketing world who would not struggle to name the ultimate winner. What anyone can say with utmost surety, however, is that Bangladesh would have come third in the triangular. They have shown a great penchant for coming second in a straight contest, third in a triangular, fourth in a four-nation, and so on.
