Sunshine keeps away and so do the players

The opening encounter of the unfortunately scheduled Asia Cup, between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, was put off until tomorrow as the pre-monsoonal rains continued to drench the city without respite. Indeed the entire tournament could be in jeopardy if the wet spell prolongs any further.

According to the Deputy Director of the Storm Warning Centre here in Dhaka, Md. Akram Hossain, there will be intermittent showers and gusty winds throughout today and tomorrow, but the intensity of the rains could lessen by tomorrow evening. Characterising this spell of weather as a 'premonsoonal effect', Hossain added that there is no danger of this intensifying into a cyclonic storm as the Bay of Bengal is free from any disturbance. There is no low pressure area developing in the Bay, he said.

If that was cause for some cheer, he went on to dampen the mood by saying that the actual monsoons could hit Dhaka by June 1-2, which does not augur well for this tournament. There have been as much as 90 mm of rain from 6 am yesterday to 6 am today and indeed a squall yesterday morning, with wind speeds of upto 63 kmph, caused the deaths of 11 people in a slum dwelling in the city, so there can be no doubt that these rains mean business. Asked what the existing state of affairs meant for the well being of the tournament, Hossain said that he could only provide information and it was upto others to infer what the implications were.

The only previous Asia Cup in this country was held in the more congenial atmosphere of late October and early November and for that matter the Independence Cup and the ICC knockout event in Dhaka were also organised in the winter. The chairman of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, Saber Hossain Chaudhury, was at the ground in the afternoon and he said that the scheduling of the tournament during this period could have been avoided if it had been held according to schedule last year. He added that because the tournament had skipped a year, the next edition of the Asia Cup would be held as early as 2001, in Pakistan.

Talking about the imminent conferment of Test status by the ICC on Bangladesh, Chaudhury said that no one expected Bangladesh to play on an even footing with the other Test playing nations rightaway, citing the examples of Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka and also the well documented cases of New Zealand and India which took 26 and 20 years respectively to open their Test accounts.

According to Chaudhury, the ICC had two criteria for giving Test recognition: there should be at least three venues capable of conducting Tests and there should be a domestic first class calendar. As a result he said that the National League had been reorganised, with the number of teams being whittled down to six to raise the standard. The most important thing he pointed out was that Bangladesh had a cricket culture. The crowds thronged to the grounds, the media gave the game wide publicity and unlike some other Test playing countries, cricket was the number one sport in this country.

Chaudhury said that in future, the period of the monsoons at home would be used for tours abroad and suggested that Australia could be an attractive destination with places like Darwin and Alice Springs being positioned as future winter venues. Chaudhury also disclosed that the BCB had already finalised plans for their first Test match with the Board of another Test nation but refused to name the opponent or the timing.