Marylebone Cricket Club cricket team in Bangladesh in 1978–79

The Marylebone Cricket Club's second tour of Bangladesh started immediately after Christmas 1978 and ended in mid-January 1979. Ted Clark, the captain of the 1976-77 MCC team, was the captain again. The team included three former Test cricketers, John Jameson and Ken Taylor from England and Sir Conrad Hunte from the West Indies.[1]

The MCC team

Scores in brief

Date	Match	Venue			Result
Dec 29-30	2-Day Match	Jessore	BCCB 210/8 (Decl.)(Hira 51*, Raquibul Hasan 39, Lewington 4/30) & 52/3 (Decl.)	MCC 166 (John Jameson 28, Rumy 4/30, Lintu 4/49) & 5/2	Match drawn
1 Jan	1 Day Match (40 0vers)	Mymensingh	Bangladesh 104/9 (Ashraful 25, Merry 4/13)	MCC 106/0 (John Jameson 61, Reed 40)	MCC won by 10 wickets
3-5 Jan	3-Day Match	Rajshahi	MCC 247 (John Jameson 59, Reed 47, Hunte 38, Nazrul Kader Lintu 5/67, Yousuf Babu 3/46) & 114/1 (Decl.)(Hunte 55*)	Bangladesh 173 (Rumy 33, Masud 33) & 104/2 (Omar Khaled Rumy 35)	Match drawn
7-9 Jan	3-Day Match	Chittagong	MCC 303/8 (Decl.) (Conrad Hunte 89, Dyson 60*, Lintu 4/58) & 105/3 (Hunte 53)	Bangladesh 192 (Hira 73, Merry 5/45) & 97/7 (Lewington 4/19)	Match drawn
11-13	3-Day Match	Dhaka	MCC 210 (Clark 71, Rumy 3/63, Lintu 3/79, Ashraful 2/1) & 172/4 (Decl.) (Hunte 60, John Jameson 44, Ashraful 2/24) )	Bangladesh 152 (Jahangir Shah 37, Stewart 5/44, Merry 3/35) & 147/8 (Robin 37, Duff 4/54, Stewart 3/26)	Match drawn
14 Jan	1-Day (40 overs) Match	Dhaka	MCC 155/7 (Hunte 33, Lintu 3/29)	Bangladesh 84 (Toole 5/6)	MCC won by 71 runs

Team performances (Bangladesh)

This tour was mainly organized for Bangladesh's preparation for the ICC Trophy to be held in the summer. However, the crushing defeats suffered by the local side in the 2 limited over fixtures suggested that the local boys were still pretty unfamiliar with the tactics of ODI cricket. The tourists also dominated the 3 day matches, but failed to force any results. The most disappointing aspect of the local team was their top order batting. Specially disappointing was performance of the local captain. Raquibul. At the end of the season, the national selectors decided that captaincy was becoming an extra burden for Raquibul. So, they picked WK batsman Hira as the captain for the ICC Trophy.

With our top order struggling, the lower order often contributed vital runs to save the team's cause. At Rajshahi, Masud (33) and Dipu Chowdhury (22*) shared a vital 9th wicket stand of 63. At Chittagong, Hira (73) led a recovery after the top order had slumped to 63/6. At Dacca, all rounder Jahangir Shah Badshah scored a patient 37 after coming to the wicket as a night watchman. The bowling was dominated by the spinners. Specially, Lintu, the left arm spinner, was superb. Sadly, a conflict between him and the cricket board, meant that this would be his last season in international cricket.

Team performances (MCC)

For MCC, the Test players Conrad Hunte and John Jameson scored regularly. Skipper Ted Clark came good at a critical stage in the Dacca match. But the lower order generally struggled against the local spinners. The MCC new ball attack, consisting of William Merry and Nick Stewart,[2] remained a threat to the local boys throughout the tour. Stewart was specially impressive at Dacca picking up 8 wickets. The MCC spinners Peter Lewington and Alan Duff were also impressive, picking up wickets at vital stages.[3]

References

"Playing in far off places ...", The Cricketer, June 1979, p. 43.
Nick Stewart
Hasan Babli, "Antorjartik Crickete Bangladesh", Khelar Bhuban Prakashani, November 1994.

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[1] "Playing in far off places ...", The Cricketer, June 1979, p. 43.

[2] Nick Stewart

[3] Hasan Babli, "Antorjartik Crickete Bangladesh", Khelar Bhuban Prakashani, November 1994.