Thursday, February 3, 2011

Team: Bangladesh National Cricket Team

The Bangladesh national cricket team, also known as "The Tigers", is a national cricket team representing Bangladesh. The team is administered by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). Bangladesh is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status. It played its first Test match in 2000 against India in Dhaka, becoming the tenth Test cricket playing nation.

Bangladesh's first official foray into international cricket came in the 1979 ICC Trophy in England, leaving the tournament with 2 wins and 2 defeats. Seven years later, on 31 March 1986, Bangladesh played in its first One Day International match against Pakistan in the 1986 Asia Cup. Cricket has gradually become very popular in urban areas of the country. Although football was the most popular game for a long time, cricket gained momentum and soon surpassed football. Especially after Bangladesh won the ICC Trophy in Malaysia in 1997. By winning the ICC trophy, the Tigers had qualified for the 1999 Cricket World Cup for the first time, where they beat Pakistan creating one of the biggest upsets in their cricketing history. In 1997, Bangladesh became a regular ICC member with the right to play One Day Internationals. It attained the status of a Test playing country on 26 June 2000.

As of May 2010, Bangladesh have played in 68 Tests, winning only 3. Their first victory was against Zimbabwe and the other two against a West Indian team crippled by a players' strike. They have lost 57 of their matches, and 33 of these by an innings. Bangladesh's performance has led to repeated calls for them to lose their Test status. Recently however, under the guidance of coach Jamie Siddons Bangladesh has been improving their test match performances. In the one day form of the game Bangladesh has performed a lot better. They have managed to defeat all the Test playing nations at least once. The performance of the Tigers in 2010 has also shown a gradual improvement as a Test match and ODI side. This year in Bangladesh, they created history by beating New Zealand convincingly in the ODI series. The Kiwis were beaten with a clean sweep of 4-0 and this was the first major whitewash by the Tigers against a full strength test squad.

They are expected to do well in the 2011 Cricket World Cup. They are pitted against India, Ireland, West Inides, England, South Africa and the Netherlands, and are hoping to book a place in the Quarter final's. The future holds a good next decade for the tigers, as many players, such as Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal have begun finding their feet in the international arena.

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