A view from the Gully (5 June 1999)

5 June 1999

A view from the Gully

Tawfiq Aziz Khan

The cricket heroes returned home to a couple of receptions - one at the airport and the other at the National Parade Square. The first one was organised by the major opposition parties, the latter by the Mayor, supposedly on behalf of Dhaka citizens.

What a pity! Even on such an occasion of national pride the politicians could not bury their hatchet. I have no idea what happened at the airport (reports have it that the gathering was small) but I did sit through the BTV telecast of the civic reception at the Parade Square, which was not too impressive, either.

On a hot and humid June morning a few thousand cricket enthusiasts gathered on the old runway, many of them forgetting why they were there. It was by and large a lifeless crowd except for a handful of youngsters giving vent to their enthusiasm. The dias was not a big one as one would expect on such an occasion but the crowd near the speakers' rostrum was very pronounced. While the shamiana was meant for the honourable guests almost all those invited, including leaders of political parties, were sitting in the open, perspiring in the Jaishta humidity. This was very ungraceful. Senior politicians of the country were seen waiting, uncomfortably, in the heat of the late morning while some younger ones were seen in the shade of the pandal. Some among the restless crowd set light to the dry grass in the adjacent areas which was, promptly, brought under control by fire fighters.

Contrary to declarations by responsible quarters that the players would go back to England on 8 June to complete some formalities, and gather 'expertise' by watching the rest of the matches, it was known on Friday that there were no such plans. They are not going back to England. If this is the actual situation why the civic reception could not be deferred to a more comfortable time and place with better arrangements? Do we have to try to gain political mileage from every sporting success? While there was no declaration of cash prize for the 'sacked' coach - Gordon Greenidge - it was nice to hear that a 'crest' will be presented to him at a later date!

But the major disappointment for the cricket enthusiasts was the speech of the Prime Minister where she promised to do 'everything for improvement of cricket in the country' stopping short of declaring Bangabandhu National Stadium as the 'home of cricket' for Bangladesh. It was a strong rumor that made its rounds during the last two days. This would have been the greatest gift of the prime minister to the cricket heroes.

But the gentleman who presided over the function yesterday, had already dug up the square at the stadium and put the costly electronic scoreboard under lock and key. A fine example of cutting the roots and caring for the branches.

Source :: The Daily Star