View source for Marylebone Cricket Club in Bangladesh in 1980–81

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2016}}
The tour started immediately after Christmas and ended in mid-January. [[Michael Mence]], a member of the [[Marylebone Cricket Club cricket team in Bangladesh in 1976–77|1976-77 MCC]] team, was the captain of the side, which included three former Test players, [[John Jameson (cricketer)|John Jameson]], [[John Hampshire]], and [[Richard Hutton (cricketer)|Richard Hutton]].<ref name ="WCA">''[[Wisden Cricketers' Almanack|Wisden]]'' 1982, p. 968.</ref>
==The MCC team==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Michael Mence]] (captain)
* [[Asif Din]]
* [[John Hampshire]]
* [[Richard Hutton (cricketer)|Richard Hutton]]
* [[John Jameson (cricketer)|John Jameson]]
* [[Richard Lewis (cricketer, born 1947)|Richard Lewis]]
* [[Dermott Monteith]]
* [[Andrew Needham]]
* [[Mark Nicholas]]
* [[Steve Plumb]]
* Nick Stewart
* [[Stuart Surridge junior|Stuart Surridge]]
* [[Hugh Wilson (cricketer)|Hugh Wilson]]
{{div col end}}
Lt. Col. [[John Robin Stephenson|J. R. Stephenson]] was the manager.<ref name ="WCA"/>
==Scores in brief==
{| class="wikitable"
! Date
! Match
! Venue
!
!
! Result
|-
|| Dec 29-30 || 2-Day Match||[[Mymensingh]]|| [[Marylebone Cricket Club|MCC]]: 136 ([[Mark Nicholas]] 39, Mence 33, [[Yousuf Rahman|Yousuf Babu]] 3/21) & 89/4 (Decl) ([[Steve Plumb|Plumb]] 33, Dipu Chowdhury 2/21)||  Central Zone: 73 (Manju 30, [[Hugh Wilson (cricketer)|Wilson]] 4/22) & 120/9 ([[Ashraful Haque]] 21, [[Hugh Wilson (cricketer)|Wilson]] 4/18)
|| Match Drawn
|-
|| 2-3 Jan|| 2-Day Match || [[Faridpur District|Faridpur]]|| [[Marylebone Cricket Club|MCC]] 79 (Azam 7/18, [[Anwarul Amin|Azhar]] 3/24) & 199/5 ([[Asif Din]] 46, Azam 2/46) || BCCB: 187/4 (Decl) (Mujibul Haq 45, [[Raquibul Hasan]] 40*, [[Gazi Ashraf]] Lipu 25) || Match Drawn
|-
|| 5 - 7 Jan || 3-Day Match ||[[Chittagong]]  || [[Bangladesh cricket team|Bangladesh]] 281/6 ([[Raquibul Hasan]] 78*, [[Yousuf Rahman]] Babu 54, [[Nick Stewart]] 3/48) ||[[Marylebone Cricket Club|MCC]] DNB || Match drawn
|-
|9-11 Jan||3-Day Match||[[Rajshahi]]||[[Bangladesh cricket team|Bangladesh]] 216/8 (Mujibul Haq 38, [[Jahangir Shah]] Badsha 36* [[Shafiq-ul-Haq]] Hira 33, [[Dermott Monteith]] 7/64) & 132 (Mujibul Haq 30*, [[Andrew Needham|Needham]] 4/26)||[[Marylebone Cricket Club|MCC]] 255 ([[John Jameson (cricketer)|Jameson]], 73, [[Anwarul Amin|Azhar]] 6/58) & 37/2||Match Drawn
|-
|13-15 Jan||3-Day Match||[[Dhaka]]||[[Bangladesh cricket team|Bangladesh]] 143 ([[Raquibul Hasan]] 51) & 198/6 ([[Raquibul Hasan]] 51, [[Yousuf Rahman]] Babu 50)||[[Marylebone Cricket Club|MCC]] 290/6 (Decl.) (Nicholas 148*, [[Richard Hutton (cricketer)|Richard Hutton]] 50*)||Match Drawn
|-
|17Jan||1-Day (40 overs) Match||[[Dhaka]]||[[Bangladesh cricket team|Bangladesh]] 141/8  ([[Rafiqul Alam (cricketer)|Rafiqul Alam]] 27)|| [[Marylebone Cricket Club|MCC]] 142/4 ([[Richard Lewis (cricketer, born 1947)|Lewis]] 38*).
||[[Marylebone Cricket Club|MCC]] won the match by 6 wickets.
|-
|}
In the first match, Central Zone just managed to avoid defeat. The fearsome bowling of the tall fast bowler [[Hugh Wilson (cricketer)|Wilson]] created havoc in the local camp.
At [[Faridpur District|Faridpur]], in the first innings the MCC batting collapsed badly against the medium pace of Obaidul Haq Azam. His 7/18 was the best bowling by a Bangladeshi bowler at the time, breaking Syed Ashraful's record of 7/23 in the 1979 [[ICC Trophy]] against [[Fiji cricket team|Fiji]]. Also, this match marked the international debut for [[Gazi Ashraf]] Lipu. He went to play a significant role in the development of [[Bangladesh cricket team|Bangladesh]] cricket.
The [[Chittagong]] match was abandoned early on the 2nd day due to bad weather.
The infamous weather of [[Chittagong]] intervened to spoil the match. [[Raquibul Hasan]] was specially unlucky, as he looked set for his first hundred in [[Bangladesh cricket team|Bangladesh]]i colours.
The drawn match at [[Rajshahi]] was dominated by the spinners of both the sides. The slow turning pitch made strokeplay extremely difficult. The Bangladeshi top order batting collapsed against the spin of [[Dermott Monteith]] on the 1st day. But the lower order, led by captain [[Shafiq-ul-Haq|Hira]] and ever reliable [[Jahangir Shah]] fought back. Off spinner, [[Anwarul Amin]] Azhar showed class during the MCC innings. Only the veteran, [[John Jameson (cricketer)|Jameson]], on his 2nd tour of [[Bangladesh]] could handle him properly. [[Anwarul Amin|Azhar]] is widely regarded as the best Bangladeshi spinner of the decade.<ref name="archive.thedailystar.net">{{cite news|url=http://archive.thedailystar.net/magazine/2006/05/02/sports.htm|work=[[The Daily Star (Bangladesh)]]|first=Rafiqul|last=Ameer|title=Looking Back: Bangladesh Cricket in the 80's|date=2008-07-14}}</ref> The Bangladesh batting collapsed again in the 2nd innings, but young Mujibul Haq stood firm to save the match.
[[Raquibul Hasan]] scored half centuries in each innings at [[Dhaka]]. He got good support from the opener [[Yousuf Rahman|Yousuf Babu]] in the 2nd innings. But the match belonged to [[Mark Nicholas]]. Batting at number three, the [[Hampshire]] batsman amassed the first century by an MCC player against Bangladesh.
The only match to produce a result was the one-day match where the inexperience of the local players in the shorter version of the game was exposed.<ref>Hasan Babli. "Antorjartik Crickete Bangladesh".  Khelar Bhuban Prakashani, November 1994.</ref>
These matches saw the emergence of a number of talented youngsters in Bangladesh cricket, like [[Gazi Ashraf]] Lipu, [[Rafiqul Alam (cricketer)|Rafiqul Alam]], Mujibul Haq, Nehal Hasnain, Obiadul Haq Azam, Nadir Shah, and Manjur Ahmed Manju. While some of them failed to live up to the expectations, [[Gazi Ashraf|Lipu]], [[Rafiqul Alam (cricketer)|Rafiq]] & [[Nehal Hasnain|Nehal]] went on to play vital role in [[Bangladesh cricket team|Bangladesh]] cricket throughout the 80s.<ref name="archive.thedailystar.net"/>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{International cricket tours of Bangladesh}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marylebone Cricket Club in Bangladesh in 1980-81}}
[[Category:1980 in Bangladeshi cricket]]
[[Category:1980 in English cricket]]
[[Category:1981 in Bangladeshi cricket]]
[[Category:1981 in English cricket]]
[[Category:Bangladeshi cricket seasons from 1971–72 to 2000]]
[[Category:English cricket tours of Bangladesh]]
[[Category:International cricket competitions from 1980–81 to 1985]]
[[Category:Marylebone Cricket Club|Bangladesh 1980-81]]