The tour started immediately after Christmas and ended in mid-January. Michael Mence, a member of the 1976-77 MCC team, was the captain of the side, which included three former Test players, John Jameson,

John Hampshire John Harry Hampshire (10 February 1941 – 1 March 2017), also known as Jack Hampshire, was an English cricketer and umpire, who played eight Tests and three One Day Internationals (ODIs) for England between 1969 and 1975. He played first-class ...

, and Richard Hutton.''

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'' 1982, p. 968.

The MCC team

* Michael Mence (captain) *

Asif Din Mohamed Asif Din (born 21 September 1960) is a former British cricketer who played county cricket for Warwickshire from 1981 to 1995. A right-handed batsman and occasional legbreak bowler, he is most famous for scoring a hundred and winning th ...

* Richard Hutton * John Jameson *

Richard Lewis Richard, Rich, Richie, Rick, Ricky or Dick Lewis may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Richard Field Lewis Jr. (1907–1957), American radio network owner * Dick "Rocko" Lewis (Richard Henry Lewis III, 1908–1966), American entertainer * Rich ...

Dermott Monteith James Dermott Monteith (2 June 1943 – 6 December 2009) was an Irish international cricketer. Monteith was a right-handed Batsman (cricket), batsman who bowled slow left-arm orthodox. Monteith was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical In ...

* Andrew Needham *

Mark Nicholas Mark Charles Jefford Nicholas (born 29 September 1957) is an English cricket commentator and former cricketer and broadcaster. He played for Hampshire from 1978 to 1995, captaining them from 1985 to his retirement. Nicholas was born in Westmi ...

* Steve Plumb * Nick Stewart *

Stuart Surridge Stuart Surridge (3 September 1917 – 13 April 1992) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Surrey County Cricket Club, Surrey. Though not known to be a remarkable batsman or bowler, Surridge became one of the most successful team ca ...

* Hugh Wilson Lt. Col. J. R. Stephenson was the manager.

Scores in brief

In the first match, Central Zone just managed to avoid defeat. The fearsome bowling of the tall fast bowler

Wilson Wilson may refer to: People * Wilson (name) ** List of people with given name Wilson ** List of people with surname Wilson * Wilson (footballer, 1927–1998), Brazilian manager and defender * Wilson (footballer, born 1984), full name Wilson Ro ...

created havoc in the local camp. At Faridpur, in the first innings the MCC batting collapsed badly against the medium pace of Obaidul Haq Azam. His 7/18 was the best bowling by a Bangladeshi bowler at the time, breaking Syed Ashraful's record of 7/23 in the 1979

ICC Trophy The ICC World Cup Qualifier (previously called the ICC Trophy and officially known as the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier) is a One-Day International (ODI) cricket tournament that serves as the culmination of the Cricket World Cup qualifi ...

against

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

. Also, this match marked the international debut for

Gazi Ashraf Gazi Ashraf Hossain ( bn, গাজী আশরাফ হোসেন; born 29 December 1960), also known as Lipu, is a former Bangladeshi cricketer who captained the Bangladesh national cricket team in its first seven One Day International (O ...

Lipu. He went to play a significant role in the development of

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

cricket. The

Chittagong Chittagong ( /ˈtʃɪt əˌɡɒŋ/ ''chit-uh-gong''; ctg, চিটাং; bn, চিটাগং), officially Chattogram ( bn, চট্টগ্রাম), is the second-largest city in Bangladesh after Dhaka and third largest city in B ...

match was abandoned early on the 2nd day due to bad weather. The infamous weather of

intervened to spoil the match. Raquibul Hasan was specially unlucky, as he looked set for his first hundred in

i colours. The drawn match at

Rajshahi Rajshahi ( bn, রাজশাহী, ) is a metropolis, metropolitan city and a major urban, commercial and educational centre of Bangladesh. It is also the administrative seat of the eponymous Rajshahi Division, division and Rajshahi District ...

was dominated by the spinners of both the sides. The slow turning pitch made strokeplay extremely difficult. The Bangladeshi top order batting collapsed against the spin of

on the 1st day. But the lower order, led by captain

Hira Hira may refer to: Places *Cave of Hira, a cave associated with Muhammad * Al-Hirah, an ancient Arab city in Iraq ** Battle of Hira, 633AD, between the Sassanians and the Rashidun Caliphate *Hira Mountains, Japan * Hira, New Zealand, settlement n ...

and ever reliable

Jahangir Shah Jahangir Shah Badsha (born 19 July 1949 in Kushtia) is a former Bangladeshi cricketer who played in 5 ODIs from 1986 to 1990. He is sometimes known on scoresheets by his nickname Badshah. Shah made his debut in the national side in 1979, and un ...

fought back. Off spinner,

Anwarul Amin Sixteen teams participated in the 1982 ICC Trophy, the second edition of the tournament. Five of those teams – Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Kenya, West Africa, and Zimbabwe – were making their tournament debuts. Bangladesh ''Only players who appeared ...

Azhar showed class during the MCC innings. Only the veteran, Jameson, on his 2nd tour of

could handle him properly. Azhar is widely regarded as the best Bangladeshi spinner of the decade.Rafiqul Ameer. "Looking Back: Bangladesh Cricket in the 80's". Retrieved on 2008-07-14.
/ref> The Bangladesh batting collapsed again in the 2nd innings, but young Mujibul Haq stood firm to save the match. Raquibul Hasan scored half centuries in each innings at

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...

. He got good support from the opener Yousuf Babu in the 2nd innings. But the match belonged to

. Batting at number three, the

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

batsman amassed the first century by an MCC player against Bangladesh. The only match to produce a result was the one-day match where the inexperience of the local players in the shorter version of the game was exposed.Hasan Babli. "Antorjartik Crickete Bangladesh". Khelar Bhuban Prakashani, November 1994. These matches saw the emergence of a number of talented youngsters in Bangladesh cricket, like

Lipu, Rafiqul Alam, Mujibul Haq, Nehal Hasnain, Obiadul Haq Azam, Nadir Shah, and Manjur Ahmed Manju. While some of them failed to live up to the expectations,

Lipu LIPU, the Lega italiana protezione uccelli (En. “Italian League for Bird Protection”) is an Italian charitable organisation, founded in 1965 and devoted to the protection of the country's wildlife with a particular focus on birds. It has a memb ...

Rafiq Rafiq or Rafique ( ar , رفیق ), meaning "intimate friend", "companion", and "comrade", is an Arabic masculine given name and surname also used in several other languages. Notable people with the name include: Constituent of compound name *Rafi ...

Nehal Nehal (Persian: نهال, pronounced næhāl, नेहल) is a Middle Eastern name. It has a variety of meanings in different languages, such as; rainy, loving, intelligent, genius, spring, or beautiful. The name 'Nehal' is derived from Persian ...

went on to play vital role in

cricket throughout the 80s.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marylebone Cricket Club cricket team in Bangladesh in 1980-81 1980 in Bangladeshi cricket 1980 in English cricket 1981 in Bangladeshi cricket 1981 in English cricket Bangladeshi cricket seasons from 1971–72 to 2000 English cricket tours of Bangladesh International cricket competitions from 1980–81 to 1985 Bangladesh 1980-81