Baptising the tigers

Which sporting event in Britain this summer is going to hold the greatest significance for the greatest number of people?

On July 21, a nation of 20 million of the most geographically blessed people in the world takes on its oldest, most privileged rival - when Australia and England (UK population: 59 million) launch the 2005 Ashes. But for all the hype and hoopla surrounding the Aussies' arrival, it is arguable that the truly memorable occasion has already been and gone. For on May 26, barely noticed beneath the barrage of Ashes build-up, Lord's opened its pavilion to 11 representatives of a nation of 150 million of the most wretched underachievers on the planet. In the 34 years since Bangladesh was born, numb with shock at the end of a bloody war of liberation, the country has been renowned for all the wrong reasons. Floods and cyclones, hartals and corruption. It is not pretty. But, for the 11 men who took the field against England that Thursday morning, there can have been no prouder moment in their existence.

Some might argue that Bangladesh has got the team it deserves. Allegations of match-fixing riddle the most famous moment of their sporting history - the 1999 World Cup victory over Pakistan that secured their Test status - and it wasn't until they edged out their fellow stragglers, Zimbabwe that they broke their Test match duck, in their 35th Test. But six years down, the question of Bangladesh's illegitimacy is no longer relevant. An innings defeat to a weakened Sussex may have been more indicative of their current ability, but so long as Asia remains the economic hub of the game, they are here and they are here to stay.

Nobody enjoys the stigma of being the worst nation in the world, but how shameful, really, is it to be the 10th-best team in the world? Until cricket burst into the national consciousness, Bangladesh had never come so close to such elite status in any walk of life. After independence, football was the nation's first sporting love - the national side had played an important role in raising awareness during their independence struggle - but a nation's football tends to reflect its economic strength (Brazil excepted) and Bangladesh remained rooted towards the bottom of both tables.

Cricket, with its narrower appeal and Asian-centric focus, offers something more tangible to a nation desperate for success. Suddenly, Bangladesh can aspire to something above rank mediocrity. The country has an outlet for its energies, and given time and talent to nurture, it is certain to stand proud. Already, by touring England during an Ashes summer, they have wangled an invitation to the most exclusive private party of them all, so don't be fooled into thinking that this stopover doesn't matter. They may be hopelessly out of their depth, but for 150 million Bangladeshis that old adage: "It's not the winning that counts but the taking part" has never rung so true.

The critics justifiably argue that there is little room for sentiment in top-level sport, so there will be little sympathy when Bangladesh's defeats roll in. But Bangladeshis are resilient. In 1998, the London School of Economics studied the link between personal spending power and one's perceived quality of life. It concluded that Bangladeshis are in fact the happiest people anywhere, for they are able to derive more pleasure from their modest incomes and unassuming way of life than many other richer nations - the UK ranked at No. 32.

These are a people who have clung to their identity with unrelenting tenacity - from the days when, as part of Pakistan, they fought against the imposition of Urdu as the nation's sole language, to that bloody independence struggle in 1971 when over a million people lost their lives in nine months. It speaks volumes for the importance of cricket in the development of a Bangladeshi identity that, in November 2000, the then president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, Sabir Chowdhury, described the country's elevation to Test status as the third most historic event in their national life. In the circumstances, it is fit that living up to it should be a struggle.

For 20 years after independence, cricket was seen largely as irrelevant - time-consuming and expensive, symbolic of a bygone era - and so the country had no first-class structure, just a middling Dhaka-based one-day league. By England's first Test series against them, in October 2003, the total of the nation's indoor practice facilities was a concrete hut 75 minutes north of Dhaka.

But while the infrastructure has been lacking, the spirit remains indefatigable. Wild celebrations greet Bangladesh's every success, making a mockery of the blasé attitudes successful nations adopt. When Bangladesh beat Kenya in the final of the 1997 ICC Trophy, it was the delirium that greeted the result, more than the quality of the victory, that made the ICC sit up and take notice. This surging groundswell of support was decisive in enabling Bangladesh to leapfrog Kenya in the race for the next Test berth.

It has not been an unconditional love affair. By the time of the 2003 World Cup, Bangladesh's supporters were becoming disillusioned by a cycle of humiliating defeats. This reached its nadir at Durban on February 11, when a dreadlocked plumber, Austin Codrington, bowled Canada to a 60-run victory in their first senior appearance for 24 years. Far from being a saving grace, cricket was now dragging Bangladesh's inadequacies ever further into the public glare. The BCB wisely recognised the urgent need for action and, following a public enquiry, sacked the coaches, the selection panel, and Khaled Mashud, the captain. Mashud took the indignity on the chin, and has remained an indispensable part of the team since.

In strode Dav Whatmore, a World-Cup winner, as coach of Sri Lanka. Whatmore understood the need to nurture the team on a match-to-match basis, and protect them from the backlash that accompanied inevitable failures. His first series in charge was in Australia, where the late David Hookes urged Australia to aim for victory inside one day. Nobody bothered to deny that this was a possibility. And yet, by posting 295 on a greentop in the first innings of the second Test, Bangladesh avoided that ignominy hands-down and left the country in higher spirits than at any other point in their Test history. Two months later, they came within one wicket of a Test victory in Pakistan, and even in defeat, they were garlanded by an ecstatic crowd on their return.

Bangladesh will remain the whipping boys of Test cricket for several years to come and, so far, the tour of England has marked another significant dip in their fortunes, after the heady success of that maiden series win over Zimbabwe back in January. But the breadth and depth of their support proves that this is a nation worth investing in, and undoubtedly, the most significant step in their development was taken back home in Dhaka in February 2004.

The ICC has done Bangladesh few favours in their short time at the top level but the decision to award them the Under-19 World Cup was a masterstroke. Where else could such a lowly tournament be embraced as the greatest show on earth? For the opening ceremony alone, 40,000 tickets were snapped up on the black market, and matches involving even the makeweights of Uganda and Papua New Guinea were sold out a week in advance. For the first time, international cricket in Bangladesh carried beyond Dhaka and Chittagong as five new stadia were inaugurated across the country. A heady fortnight came to the most jubilant of conclusions when Bangladesh trumped Australia to clinch the Plate competition.

The Man of the Match that day was a young left-arm spinner, Enamul Haque Jr, who is fast becoming the standard-bearer for the new generation. His figures of 5 for 31 earned him a recall to the Test side that he had already represented, as a 16-year-old, on England's visit. He became a superhero this year, with three consecutive five-wicket hauls in the series victory over Zimbabwe.

Another of Enamul's Under-19 colleagues, the fast bowler Shahadat Hossain, has also made the trip to England, as has the precocious opener Nafis Iqbal, who charmed a century in a warm-up match against England in 2003 and then had the temerity to dismiss England's spinners as "ordinary". Factor in Mohammad Ashraful, the youngest centurion in Test history, and Mashrafe bin Mortaza, the most natural seam bowler in the country, and it appears Bangladesh have identified a core of talent that will reach maturity sometime over the next five years.

It could even be that some of them will reach maturity on this most exacting of tours, in front of a sea of expat supporters from England and the USA who are revelling in the latest step in Bangladesh's Test baptism. The main event of this English summer may not get underway until late July, but what comes before has a significance all of its own.