Go on a cricket tour to Bangladesh

Well, there’s an Australian tour to Bangladesh scheduled for April and May 2011. Maybe then?

I still want to do this one day, but for now it is not a high priority. I’ll leave on the list though as a reminder…

I bet there are many Bangladeshis celebrating their cricket team’s giant-killing win over India in the World Cup! I thought it was great to see their young players do so well. I’m still being loyal and barracking for the Aussies but I’d also love to see the Tigers achieve more success in this World Cup.

OK. What can I do to begin to turn this dream into a reality?

Two things come to mind.

The first is obvious – I can research Bangladesh, specifically to find out more about it’s culture, society, living standards (which are obviously very poor but I want to understand more about what daily life is like for people in Bangladesh), cricket and the practicalities of organising and managing a tour.

Secondly there are a couple of blokes I used to play cricket with that know much more about Bangladesh than I do. One lived in Dhaka for several years and the other has been recently involved with developing cricket in Bangladesh. So I should invite them over for a meal.

Good. Some concrete next steps…

What I’d really like to do would be to take a young team of cricketers on a tour of Bangladesh. I’m thinking of players of the age of about 16 or 17. An age when they are passionate about their cricket and hopefully impressionable enough to learn about what it’s like to live in Bangladesh.

There’s obviously much to do to turn this dream into reality but there’s something inside me that says it’s worth pursuing.

I think I’ll keep this on the list for now even though it’s a dream that is unlikely to be realised for a while. Meanwhile, I’ll see what I can learn about Bangladesh and cricket in Bangladesh (the Aussie cricket team have just arrived there).

Cricket is a passion of mine and I know it is for millions on the sub-continent. I like to help those less fortunate than me when I can and Bangladesh, one of the poorest nations on earth, would obviously provide plenty of opportunities.

This may remain a dream but, on the other hand, maybe one day I’ll get the opportunity to be involved in a cricket tour to Bangladesh. My dream, vague that it is, also includes assisting Bangladeshi people in practical ways beyond sharing games of cricket.