Wills Cup Snippets (26 October 1998)
Some officials of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) seemed to be out on an assignment to earn adverse publicity for the organisation
26-Oct-1998
26 October 1998
Wills Cup Snippets
Syed Ashfaqul Haque and Al-Amin
Disgraceful
Some officials of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) seemed to be out
on an assignment to earn adverse publicity for the organisation. From
the very beginning of the showpiece they have handled the local media
with a degree of incompetence and ignorance, causing undue
inconvenience to journalists and photographers on duty. Before the
match started, a high-flying BCB official refused to let the local
lens-men take snaps of the England and South African players, for
reasons best known to him. While the foreign photographers were busy
clicking away their cameras inside the stadium, local professionals
had to engage in an uncalled-for argument with the overbearing
official to get the permission. But by the time he finally relented,
the England team had already left for the dressing room. Only a few of
the sprinting local photographers managed to persuade the Proteas to
wait for an extra minute for their pictures.
Two Aussies in town
The first batch of the Australian team reached the capital yesterday.
One-day specialist Michael Bevan and spinner Brad Young checked into
the Sonargaon Hotel in the afternoon. Bevan and Young, who flew in
from Australia, had the instant opportunity to see what was going on
at the Bangabandhu National Stadium. On their arrival at the hotel,
both of them stood in front of the big TV screen in the lobby for some
time before leaving for their rooms.
Price hike
Touts were also seen offering tickets for the first quarterfinal match
but they were less in number. Experiencing dull business the day
before, the black marketers were seen offering gallery tickets of Taka
150 and 120 at Taka 80 or 90 in the morning. But very soon they came
to their senses and realised that the gallery was almost full, that
more spectators were pouring in. And before the first drink break,
prices of the tickets went up to Taka 200 and 250 each.
Stink bomb
Some spectators at the western gallery (Gate-19) were absorbed in an
exciting battle between England and South Africa. But a pungent odour
brought them down to earth. A soil pipe that passed underneath the
seats somehow started leaking. The beleaguered fans rushed to leave
the spot to stay away from the unmistakable stench of urine flow.
Captains' carnival
All the captains clicked so far in the knockout tournament. Results of
the first two matches show that all the four captains played pivotal
roles for their sides, some in vain, some in triumph. Stephen Fleming,
the New Zealand captain, hit a sparkling 96 to overhaul a Zimbabwe
target of 258 Saturday. Alistair Campbell set the trend for the
captains, hitting the first hundred of the meet. Yesterday, it was
England captain Adam Hollioake who led from the front to pile up a
huge total for his team, hitting an 83 not out. Then South African
captain Hansie Cronje scored 67 off 56 balls to break the English
hearts. So, a beaming England manager David Lloyd could not resist
saying, "This must be the tournament of captains."
Fatal attraction
Word was there that the Indian cricketers were on their way to the
hotel. A group of teenaged girls rushed to the entrance and kept
waiting for the stars from the neighbouring country. At last, after an
hour, the Indian team finally arrived at the hotel.
The girls went hysterical. Choking and giggling, one of them only
could utter, "A-ja-ye, A-ja-ye.' She was waiting for an autograph but
she was so lost in seeing the man of dream that she collapsed. Not in
his arms, but on the floor.
Source:: The Bangladesh Daily Star (https://www.dailystarnews.com)