With Bangladesh achieving an historic draw against Sri Lanka this week, are the so-called weaker sides getting better?
Test cricket’s newest members Bangladesh have tended to be considered to be the whipping boys on the international scene.
A win against the side is expected and any figures that players achieve when playing them are dismissed as “only being against Bangladesh.”
However, on Tuesday the Bangladeshis entered the record books several times over, and led by Mushfiqur Rahim they look a far more formidable side.
The draw they achieved against Sri Lanka was the first time they had done so since they became a Test side in 2000. Bangladesh celebrated it as if it were a victory and in terms of making the rest of world cricket turn round and notice them, it was.
The 638 Rashfiqur’s team reached was the most the nation had ever achieved in their history and the captain grabbed the individual merit of being the first Bangladeshi to score a double-century.
Critics argue it was clearly a batting pitch, but it takes two to tango and Sri Lanka are far from a bad side.
The historical drawn result by Bangladesh came during a good week for the minor cricket countries.
The ICC announced that Ireland, the Netherlands, Scotland and Zimbabwe would all be receiving extra funding over the next three years to improve their national teams.
Out of those four Zimbabwe are currently the only Test-playing nation, but perhaps with this extra funding there could be three new members in the near future.
In fact it was a testament to the idea that the gap is being closed between the likes of Bangladesh and Zimbabwe and the other Test nations, that the West Indies were also awarded funding.
The once great cricket power have severely fallen from grace in the last 20 years and are coincidentally currently only just edging ahead of Zimbabwe in the first of a two-match Test series.
It may not be too much longer before the term “Test minnows” is a thing of the past.
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