FOUR-DAY TESTS MAY JUST BE WORTH A GO

Sometimes a small piece of information is required to highlight a bigger problem. It was the case this week when Mohammad Isam, the esteemed Dhaka-based writer for ESPNcricinfo, tweeted that when Bangladesh tour Sri Lanka in October, it will be the first time they have taken part in a three-Test series for six years. Now, I’ve written and complained about Bangladesh’s treatment for years, but never has anything earned as much traction as my re-posting of this fact, noting that it is a reminder of how poorly Bangladesh are treated.

- ADAM COLLINS

The obvious case study is Australia’s attitude to a nation that were made a full member of the International Cricket Council some two decades ago. In that time, they have been hosted down under for Tests just once, back in 2003, for two matches in the middle of winter. Ever since, every excuse other than the Australian team being double-booked to wash their hair has been used to postpone, then ultimately cancel, every subsequent series popped into the diary.

The most galling of these instances were just two years ago. In 2017, when Australia went to Bangladesh (for just the second time) they were beaten in the first of the two Tests in a classic contest with the home spinners too good in a brilliant run chase, the visitors bouncing back at Chittagong a week later to square the ledger. That year, very well placed sources from inside the camp told The Cricket Paper that they were hoping the series would be commuted to white-ball fare or, better still, collateral damage from a messy pay dispute.

But at the end of that series, both captains, Steve Smith and Mushfiqur Rahim, spoke eloquently to how wonderful it would be for the teams to renew their acquaintance in 2018 in Australia, as scheduled, playing in the north of the continent as they had in 2003.