BANGLADESH DIARY 20

March 5: A group of England A players travelled for an hour from Bogra across a flood plain to the Gaibandah district in the north of Bangladesh to see how the £2,500 they had raised at Loughborough for the United Nations World Food Programme was to be spent.

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A village school was to be stocked with nutrition supplements for about a year. Before leaving England, coach Peter Moores, Mike Yardy and Alex Loudon discussed doing charity work for Bangladesh, and they hit on the idea of offering on the ECB website a day’s coaching at the National Academy for 10 club cricketers at £250 a head. The places were snapped up within hours.

The England players arrived by coach at Durgapur Kalitola primary and middle school to be greeted by immaculately dressed boy scouts in blue tunics and well over a thousand children and parents. All the visitors were handed flowers and greeted by a sea of smiles. A tennis ball cricket hit-about was played against a team of boys on a crude pitch. As usual the tall Will Jefferson was the most popular and most photographed player not just for his height but for his patient, genial manner.

Loudon, caught first ball, said: “The reception we had was staggering, with so many people genuinely welcoming. Our lads saw that quite a small gesture made a big impact.”

With a third of the country flooded at monsoon, the issue of ‘food security’ is a serious one in an over-populated country of 148 million. The World Food Programme has invested in fortified biscuits, a very cost-effective diet supplement – one packet free to each child at school per day. Research has indicated significant improvement in school attendance and learning ability in an area where malnutrition is commonplace. The sum of £10 provides a child with biscuits six days a week for a whole year.

Douglas Broderick, the World Food Programme director in Bangladesh, thanked the tour party for their efforts and urged England cricket to become more involved in hunger projects. Sterling goes a long, long way.  

For me the visit was a fascinating experience, and it was painful to imagine so many beautiful lively children existing under the shadow of starvation. The afternoon compensated for a grim morning. Having bought some more batteries and had a hair cut, my seemingly secure pocket was picked in quite a violent stage-managed pavement collision on Bogra high street.

I lost about £45, not much. But many decent hard-working labourers might work months to earn that, and a criminal has done it in a few seconds, thanks to my lack of alertness. And I think how many under-nourished children that sum could have helped. The loss of all my cards was only inconvenient collateral damage. Guy Jackson, the England A manager, kindly helped me out.