![]() Could any of this be adapted to help safeguard the long-term future of international cricket? Of course, the notion of neutral-venue internationals isn't exactly a new one. The crowd here was 80-90% from Bangladesh. ![]() Some of the players have family here, probably they will come in the next match as well. "When the crowd comes to see the match, players always enjoy," Najmul Hossain Shanto said at the close. The top deck of the Tom Pearce Stand throbbed all day long, with its oversize Bangladesh flag shimmering to every half-chance, and with the whole crowd bursting into a rendition of "Happy Birthday" (complete with specially printed banner) as Mushfiqur made his way to the middle in the 22nd over of the day.Īnd even when the rain arrived to ruin a keenly poised contest, a significant throng stayed back to the bitter end, braving the lightning strikes that at one stage even fried the grimly static replay screen, so that they could line the route from the pavilion to the team bus to bid their heroes goodnight. It may be the smallest ground on the county circuit, but with more than 3000 Bangladesh fans packing out its stands, it offered up a stage on which those supporters could celebrate the ties that still bind them to a homeland that, in many cases, they left behind several generations ago. Not so much for the performances (mighty though Mushfiqur Rahim's birthday half-century had been), but for the lessons that were learned about the resilience of the format.Īt a time when the international game is feeling the squeeze like never before - with the return of Ireland's star seamer, Josh Little, from the IPL embodying the wrench of priorities that the world's leading players are currently feeling - there was a vitality to the day's events that underlined what stands to be lost if an endless treadmill of T20 leagues becomes the norm.Īll things being equal, Ireland versus Bangladesh is precisely the sort of contest that even the most fervent of cricket fans could be forgiven for overlooking, but if the Chelmsford experience reminds us of anything, it is that passion cannot be faked. None of that remained, just a desperately dank media marquee with raindrops sheeting down the plastic windows - which, ironically, was perhaps Ireland's first true taste of home (dis)comfort, seeing as a washout in temporary facilities at Malahide was exactly what they had been seeking to avoid when the decision was made to outsource this, their final Super League campaign.īut, with apologies to Ireland's now-deferred tilt for World Cup qualification, this had still been one of the more notable rain-wrecked ODIs. ![]() The flags, the drums, the face-paint, the cuddly tiger toys. Unfortunately for the nominal hosts Ireland (although not, it must be said, unexpectedly), the #Green in question had a more tigerly tinge to it, as London's Bangladeshi community seized on the chance for a raucous day out in Chelmsford - and by the time they'd all been sent hurtling back towards the tube network by a dramatic late-afternoon thunderstorm, it was as if they'd come armed with Dhaka's rainy-season weather too.Īnd so, when Mark Adair spoke afterwards to Ireland's lone media representative in front of an abandoned, waterlogged outfield, to reflect on the washout that had ended his side's hopes of automatic World Cup qualification, the day's prior events all felt a bit like a fever dream. From Newham and Whitechapel, from Dagenham and Redbridge, all #BackingGreen as the Cricket Ireland hashtag implored, and turning an improbable suburban enclave in Essex into the ultimate home-from-home. Ireland v Bangladesh 2023, Ireland in England 2023, Cricket You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browserīangladesh find a home away from home to breathe life into Ireland's series in exile
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