Back in 2011 The Spin was lucky enough to be in Bangladesh for the World Cup opening ceremony. It was a night of music and fireworks at the Bangabandhu, the captains paraded around the stadium on gilded rickshaws and the one carrying South Africa’s Graeme Smith amusingly broke down. Bryan Adams also belted out three of his hits in one of the Canadian’s more eclectic bookings.
Despite some personal envy the next morning at Patrick Kidd in the Times wondering whether Summer of ’69 was in fact six for nine, and thus a nod to Michael Clarke’s career-best Test bowling figures, it had been a pretty uplifting evening. The streets of Dhaka had been gridlocked and filled with a crackling electricity; a clear message of “hello world” being honked by a chorus of car horns.
