Honorary citizen dishonoured (4 June 1999)

4 June 1999

Honorary citizen dishonoured

Syed Ashfaqul Haque

Needless to say, it turned out to be the toughest emotional encounter of his life in cricket. For the last few days away in England, Cuthbert Gordon Greenidge must be fighting with himself to get over an unbearable experience, blended with sheer triumph and absolute tragedy.

While his lowly rated boys turned the world cricket upside down at Northampton on May 31, the celebrated former West Indies opener was not there to share the spotlight with the ecstatic Bangladeshi cricketers, whom he coached for the last three years. The hailed and haunted cricket coach of the rank-outsiders, preferred to slip out of the media eyes, into the background, instead of letting himself bathe in glory along with his pupils.

Bangladesh pulled off the biggest upset in the history of the condensed version of cricket, comprehensively beating World Cup's hot favourites Pakistan by 62 runs.

When the players and a huge contingent of Bangladesh Cricket Board officials were basking in the unprecedented euphoria on the terrace of the Wantage Road bowl, a strong battalion of bewildered world press tried in vain to trace the moody legend at the county venue.

The famous man from Barbados, affectionately called 'Flash Gordon' by the cricketing world during his salad days, might think it is better to leave the field quietly so that the curious fourth state could not get the chance of making his life more miserable by asking question about his controversial chop by the Board. Hours before the great occasion, Greenidge was handed over a letter that read his services were no longer required. Only before the match, tour manager Tanveer Mazhar Islam, who along with co-ordinator (a purposeless post created only to avail him the trip) Dewan Safiul Arefin could not get on well with Greenidge, cited the reasons for the spur-of-the-moment sacking as his 'indifferent attitude!' But, in reality, there are wheels within wheels.

Although like a master charmer Greenidge won the hearts of the cricket-crazy crores, coaching an average Bangladesh team to two historic wins, a section of Board officials, especially those who do not have any cricketing credentials, always tried to belittle his sincerity and capability.

In his three-year tenure, Greenidge, appointed as the director of coaching, did not even have a chair to sit on at the Board.

Back home, to many, the fabulous feat equals the joy of winning a World Cup. Some of the BCB officials and the government who did little for the sake of the game suddenly engaged themselves in an ugly race to make the most of the stupendous success. Such is the degree of their 'exhilaration', they couldn't wait any longer. Cricketers, who have some official engagements to attend and need to stay up to the final, will be flown back home today to accord an impromptu, mass reception at the National Parade Square and then will be sent back to England again.

This overkill greetings of the government is however nothing new to the cricket connoisseurs of the country. After the ICC Trophy victory, cricketers had had the same arduous reception, dominated by the politicians at the Manik Mia Avenue.

But, the irony of it all is that Greenidge, who was hailed as a national hero and awarded honorary citizenship after the Malaysia triumph, would not be around this time to receive any award or recognition from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The Board should have shown the minimum courtesy and respect to a man who had already intimated that he would be giving up the job when his contract expired in June.

Greenidge told the British press that 'he had upset the Board by saying that Bangladesh were not yet ready for the Test match status.'

"I was leaving anyway, but the way it has been done is in very bad taste. It would be nice if they could have been man enough to speak to me," said the shocked coach. Greenidge however might take some solace from the words of skipper Aminul Islam.

Aminul, being oblivious to the intention of the Board, said, "We must share this moment with Gordon. He has been with us for the last three years and we have had some wonderful time with him,"

If Greenidge's comments on Bangladesh's Test bid hurt the feelings of Board, then Tanveer was found equally guilty of dampening the spirit of the cricketers and loyal supporters. The tour manager, who is also the senior vice-president of the Board, went on record on the eve of team's departure by saying, "Bangladesh will not win a single match in the World Cup."

Soon after his assumption of the job, Greenidge put forward some specific proposals for the development of the game countrywide, but those were put in cold storage, for reasons best known to the Board.

Greenidge, who is still technically BCB's cricket director, will now head home and do what he wanted to do in Bangladesh - that is, revamping school cricket in Barbados. And, we, the 120 million Bangladeshis, will be wishing him the best and hoping against hope for the wisdom that has never dawned on our myopic Board official.

Source :: The Daily Star