Big Harvey, a PakPassion member and a supporter of England's famous 'Barmy Army' recounts his experiences in Bangladesh as part of the "PakPassion Essay Competition".

By: Big Harvey

29 March 2010

PakPassion Essay Competition Entry #1: Thoughts on Bangladesh and on Out-of-Town Stadia

This was my second time in Bangladesh. I was also there in 2003, so it was interesting to be able compare the two series and try to gauge whether or not Bangladesh have improved in the intervening years.

Although the result was the same - 2-0 to England - the unanimous verdict from the England fans present was that yes, they definitely have improved. In fact, if Bangladesh hadn't been 1-0 down in the series, thus forcing them to push hard for an unlikely victory, the second Test would most likely have ended in a deserved draw.

Bangladesh have two players capable of being leading stars. Shakib is arguably already there. Tamim is not the finished article yet, but what a prospect!

Once again we experienced a country where cricket is played on every street corner. The disappointing aspect unfortunately was the attendances. Those who were at Chittagong (I could only make Dhaka this time) said that there was a reasonable turn-out of locals, but that the ridiculously inconvenient location of the ground - in a non-residential area on the outer fringes of the city - meant that getting there just to watch a session or two, which seems to be the subcontinental way of watching Test cricket, is prohibitively difficult. On the first day, many fans found themselves a bit stranded, since the remote location meant there were not enough buses and tuk-tuks for everyone. From the second day onwards, the BCB laid on a couple of buses for the travelling English contingent. This was a wonderful gesture, much appreciated by the England fans concerned, who wondered how likely it would be for Giles Clarke & Co. to do such a thing.

As with Chittagong, in 2003 our game in Dhaka was played in the heart of the city. The wonderfully located Bangabandhu National Stadium where that game was played is convenient for a number of budget and mid-range hotels in Central Dhaka, but is sadly now used only for football. At least the new ground out in Mirpur is located in a residential area, and a quite pleasant one at that, although as with the new ground in Chittagong, it's hardly convenient for anyone living in other parts of Dhaka. In 2003 the game would start in a sparsely populated ground, but by tea, quite a crowd would have built up. This didn't happen to the same extent this time, and given the amount of time it takes to get out here from other parts of the city, I wasn't surprised.

What's more as far as we could make out, Mirpur only has one hotel - the overpriced Grand Prince, which is best described as a budget hotel with mid-range room rates. Those of us on a budget therefore opted to stay in Central Dhaka near the old stadium and commute from there by bus or tuk-tuk. One morning it took me an hour and a half to get to the ground. Getting back in the evening could take nearly two hours on a bad day. All part and parcel of the Dhaka experience of course, and I love the place, but why oh why do boards insist on moving to out-of-town stadia? It can't be good for cricket generally, and for Test cricket it's a disaster.

Look at the subcontinental grounds that get decent attendances for Test cricket - Chennai, Kolkata, Kanpur, Faisalabad, Bombay, and Galle for example. All are centrally located. Now look at the grounds that get the worst attendances - Ahmedabad, Mohali, Nagpur, and Multan - all out-of-town stadia that are simply not conducive to the subcontinental way of Test cricket watching. Now Sri Lanka is going down the same route with out-of-town stadia in Pallekelle (10 km from Kandy) and (most ridiculously of all) Hambantota, a 30,000+ capacity stadium located 20 km from the nearest significant human habitation, and not even on a main road! These two grounds join Dambulla, a ground located in the middle of the jungle which is thankfully yet to host Test cricket. However, I'm sure it won't be long before a Test is hosted at one of these grounds - in front of empty stands, no doubt.

I'm disappointed that the BCB has chosen to go down the out-of-town route. The Mirpur ground could be OK if Dhaka one day develops a modern transport infrastructure appropriate to a city of its size and population density. However the spectator facilities in Chittagong are according to those present no improvement whatsoever on those at the old centrally located ground. Couldn't the BCB simply have bought the existing ground rather than spent all this money on developing something in an unsuitable location that's not really any better?