View source for Bangladeshi cricket team in Kenya in 1983–84

The tour of the Bangladesh team to Kenya, during February, 1984, was the first visit of Bangladesh to any associate member country. The tour started a rivalry (between Bangladesh & Kenya cricket teams) which became very intense in the 1990s. On this tour, Bangladesh drew the only 3-Day fixture, won a 2-day (over restricted) match, but won only 1 of the 5 limited over matches(That too against the Combined School XI). Overall, it was a disappointing tour for the Bangladesh side.<ref>Hasan Babli. "Antorjartik Crickete Bangladesh". ''Khelar Bhuban Prakashani'', November, 1994.</ref>
==The Bangladesh team==
The tour followed immediately after the [[1984 South-East Asia Cup|South East Asian Cricket cup]] in Bangladesh. Apart from the Bangladesh National team (which won the cup), The Bangladesh Tigers (The unofficial 'A' team, consisting mostly of youngsters) had participated in that cup. Players like, [[Rafiqul Alam (cricketer)|Rafiqul Alam]]. [[Minhajul Abedin]] Nannu, [[Hafizur Rahman]] & [[Wahidul Gani]], having done well for the tigers were included in the team for Kenya tour. The team had a nice balance of youth and experience, yet during the tour, they failed to perform up to expectations, mainly due to disunity among the players. There was conflict of interests between the younger and older members of the side.
==Scores in brief==
{| class="wikitable"
! Date
! Match
!
!
! Result
|-
|| 4 February || Bangladesh v Kenya (U-19)|| Kenya 183/8 ([[Jahangir Shah]] 4/32)||Bangladesh 96 (Alfred 4/14)||  Kenya(U-19) wins by 87 runs||
|-
|| 5 February|| Bangladesh V [[Kenya national cricket team|Kenya]]|| Bangladesh 143 ( [[Raqibul Hasan (cricketer, born 1953)|Raqibul Hasan]] 47, Alfred 3/25)||[[Kenya national cricket team|Kenya]] 144/2 (Desai 61) || Kenya wins by 8 wickets||
|-
|| 8–9 February (2 day Match) || Bangladesh V Kenya Cricket Coach XI|| Bangladesh 206/9 ([[Minhajul Abedin]] 44, [[Gazi Ashraf]] 43) & 151/8 ([[Gazi Ashraf]] 41)||Kenya 196 (Al Noor 73, [[Golam Faruq (cricketer)|Golam Faruq]] 2/28) & 128/8 ([[Yousuf Rahman]] 3/16) || Bangladesh wins by 33 runs||
|-
|11–13 February (3 Day Match)||Bangladesh V [[Kenya national cricket team|Kenya]]||[[Kenya national cricket team|Kenya]] 309/7 (Shahid Khan 149, Anil Patel 122, [[Jahangir Shah]] 4/79) & 229/3 (Shahid Khan 74, Anil Patel 71*)||Bangladesh 371 (Assaduzzaman Misha 68, [[Raqibul Hasan (cricketer, born 1953)|Raqibul Hasan]] 64, Harris 4/89) & 27/5 (Varjee 4/17)||Match Drawn||
|-
|15 February||Bangladesh Vs Kenya Cricket Assoaciation||[[Bangladesh cricket team|Bangladesh]] 119 (Belal 34, Arshad 4/15)||Kenya 120/5 (Jagdeep singh 54*, [[Yousuf Rahman]] 3/19) ||Kenya wins by 5 wickets||
|-
|17 February||Bangladesh vs Kenya (Combined School XI)||Kenya 135/8 ([[Wahidul Gani]] 3/25, [[Yousuf Rahman]] 2/26)||Bangladesh 136/5 (Misha 47, Rajib 2/18)|| Bangladesh wins by 5 wickets||
|-
|18 February||Bangladesh vs [[Kenya national cricket team|Kenya]] ||Bangladesh 115 (Harris 3/18, AlFred 3/18||Kenya 116/1 (Anil Patel 58*, Desai 41*)|| Kenya wins by 9 wickets||
|-
|}
==Bangladesh performance==
Despite the poor performance of the side Assaduzzaman Misha emerged as a bright light during the tour. Considered as not suitable for limited over game, he was not picked for the first two one-day matches. Given his chance in the 2 Day match, he scored 33 and 36. But his best came in the 3-Day match against the [[Kenya national cricket team|Kenya]] national XI. After the hosts posted a 300+ score, Misha led a spirited Bangladesh reply. He top scored with 68 & put on 73 with [[Minhajul Abedin]] for the 1st wicket, and 71 with [[Gazi Ashraf]] for the 2nd. Surprisingly, despite this performance Misha was dropped for the One-Day Match against Kenya Cricket Association. He returned to the team for the last two matches and scored 47 & 23 (top score for his side on each occasion). Following the retirement of [[Yousuf Rahman]], at the end of the season, Misha was the undisputed No. 1 opener of the country. Unfortunately, like many others of his generation, he gave greater importance to his professional career (he was a doctor by profession). Thus, he was very rarely available for national team duty after 1985.
[[Gazi Ashraf|Lipu]] did well in the 2 Day and 3 Day matches. but failed in the One-Day matches. With, regular opener [[Yousuf Rahman|Yousuf Babu]] struggling for form, [[Nehal Hasnain]] & [[Minhajul Abedin]] Nannu were tried in the opening slot.
Yousuf Rahman failed with the bat, but rather unexpectedly, he emerged as his team's most effective bowler. [[Jahangir Shah|Badshah]] put on a big effort in the 3 Day match and won admiration from the opponents. [[Gazi Ashraf|Lipu]] and Misha did a good job as part-time spinners, but the main spin bowler [[Wahidul Gani]] was very disappointing.
==Top batsman and bowler==
{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto" width="80%"
|-
!colspan=4|
|-
! style="text-align:left;" | Name
!| Matches
!| Runs
!| Average
!| Highest Score
!| 100 / 50
|- style="text-align:right;"
| style="text-align:left;" | Assaduzzaman Misha
|| 4
|| 207
|| 34.50
|| 68
|| 0/1
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto" width="80%"
|-
! style="text-align:left;" | Name
!| Matches
!| Runs
!| Wickets
!| Average
!| Best
|- style="text-align:right;"
| style="text-align:left;" | [[Yousuf Rahman]]
||7
||209
||12
||17.42
||3/16
|}
==A bitter rivalry==
This tour started a bitter rivalry between two of the more stronger associate member nations. During the next decade or so, they met each other regularly in different [[ICC Trophy]] tournaments.
{| class="wikitable"
! Year
! Venue
!
!
! Result
|-
|| 1986|| England|| Bangladesh 143 ([[Minhajul Abedin]] 50, [[Rafiqul Alam (cricketer)|Rafiqul Alam]] 32)||Kenya 143 ([[Jahangir Shah]] 3/25, [[Gazi Ashraf]] 3/26)||  Bangladesh wins by 9 runs||
|-
|| 1990|| Netherlands|| Kenya 189 ([[Maurice Odumbe]] 41, [[Minhajul Abedin]] 3/29)||Bangladesh 190/7 ([[Gazi Ashraf]] 40, [[Akram Khan (cricketer)|Akram Khan]] 39*  || Bangladesh wins by 3 wickets||
|-
|| 1994 || Kenya ||Kenya 295/6 ([[Maurice Odumbe]] 119)||[[Bangladesh cricket team|Bangladesh]] 282/8 ([[Aminul Islam (cricketer, born 1968)|Aminul Islam]]74, [[Minhajul Abedin]] 68, [[Jahangir Alam (cricketer, born 1973)|Jahangir Alam]] 57, [[Asif Karim]] 3/55) || Kenya wins by 13 runs ||
|-
|| 1997||Malaysia||Kenya 241/7 (50 overs) ([[Steve Tikolo]] 147, [[Mohammad Rafique (cricketer)|Mohammad Rafique]] 3/40 )||Bangladesh 166/8 (25 overs) ([[Aminul Islam (cricketer, born 1968)|Aminul Islam]] 37, [[Asif Karim]] 3/31)||Bangladesh wins by 2 wickets (D/L Method)||
|}
In [[1986 ICC Trophy|1986]], both the teams performed very poorly in the tournament. But, in [[1990 ICC Trophy|1990]], both the teams reached SF with [[Bangladesh cricket team|Bangladesh]]finishing 3rd, and [[Kenyan cricket team|Kenya]] 4th. They met in a vital match in the [[1994 ICC Trophy|94 ICC trophy]]. After their defeat at the hands of the Netherlands, it was a do or die match for Bangladesh. A narrow defeat saw them miss their chance of a WC place. Kenya eventually finished runners up (Behind UAE) and qualified for the 1996 WC in the Indian subcontinent. In !997, the two teams met in a thrilling final. With both sides already assured of WC places only pride was at stake. Bangladesh snatched a last ball victory to lift the Trophy. In July, 1997, both the nations were granted permission to play full ODIs and thus were guaranteed a place in the future WCs, so the saga of ICC Trophy ended there.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.banglacricket.com/History/icc.php |title=BanglaCricket |accessdate=2009-07-22 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080402021428/http://www.banglacricket.com/History/icc.php |archivedate=2008-04-02 }} BanglaCricket: Bangladesh in ICC Trophy (Retrieved on 2009-07-01)</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
! Year
! Venue
!
!
! Result
|-
|| 2003|| South Africa|| Kenya 217/7 ([[Maurice Odumbe]] 52, [[Sanwar Hossain]] 3/49)||Bangladesh 185([[Tushar Imran]] 48, [[Akram Khan (cricketer)|Akram Khan]] 44, [[Maurice Odumbe]] 4/38, [[Steve Tikolo]] 3/14)||  Kenya wins by 32 runs||
|-
|}
The only meeting between the two nations in WC cricket came at Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2003. Kenya won this match and eventually went onto reach the Semi-Finals. The old nemesis, [[Maurice Odumbe]] came back to haunt the Bangladeshi players again, with a superb all-round performance. This, however, is Kenya's last ODI win (Until July 2009), over Bangladesh. Bangladesh has dominated the recent matches.
==Bangladesh vs Kenya: head to head in ODIs==
{| class="wikitable"
! Venue
! Matches
! Bangladesh
! Kenya
! Tie/NR
|-
|| Bangladesh|| 6||4 ||2||0||
|-
|| Kenya|| 5||3||2||0||
|-
|-
|| Neutral|| 3||1 ||2||0||
|-
|| Overall||14||8 ||6||0||
|}
The first full ODI between the 2 teams took place at Nairobi, in Oct. 1997, and resulted in a crushing victory for the hosts. [[Dipak Chudasama|Chudasama]] (122) & [[Kennedy Otieno]] (144) put on 225 for the first wicket, as the hosts rattled a huge total of 347/3 from their 50 overs. In reply, Bangladesh could only master 197. Bangladesh achieved their first ever ODI win, when they beat Kenya at [[Hyderabad, India|Hyderabad]](India)in 1998. Chasing 237 for victory, Bangladesh reached their target thanks mainly to [[Mohammad Rafique (cricketer)|Mohammad Rafique]], who scored 77. Bangladesh's next victory over Kenya didn't come before 2006. But, since then, [[Bangladesh cricket team|Bangladesh]], now a full member of ICC, has totally dominated the rivalry.
==Co-operation between the rivals==
Despite the intense rivalry between the two countries, there is also considerable cooperation as well. In early 1995, Kenya toured Bangladesh. Though, they lost most of the games, this tour gave them the opportunity to gain valuable experience about South Asian pitches and conditions. This experience helped them in their WC performance a year later. With the Bangladesh side going through some changes, following the disastrous [[1994 ICC Trophy|ICC Trophy]], a year earlier, this tour provided the local selectors the chance to try some youngsters.
Kenya's two most famous cricketers, [[Maurice Odumbe]] & [[Steve Tikolo]] have played club cricket at Dhaka, with great distinction.
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{International cricket tours of Kenya}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bangladeshi Cricket Team In Kenya In 1983-84}}
[[Category:1983 in cricket]]
[[Category:1984 in cricket]]
[[Category:1983 in Kenya]]
[[Category:1984 in Kenya]]
[[Category:Bangladeshi cricket tours of Kenya|1983-84]]
[[Category:International cricket competitions from 1980–81 to 1985]]
[[Category:Kenyan cricket seasons to 1999–2000]]
[[Category:1983 in Bangladeshi cricket]]
[[Category:1984 in Bangladeshi cricket]]
[[Category:1984 in Kenyan cricket]]
{{Kenya-cricket-tour-stub}}