Silver jubilee celebrations of Test status begins in Khulna

Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB's) week-long celebrations to mark the 25th anniversary of attaining Test status got underway in Khulna on Saturday.

Hundreds of children and their parents attended the day-long programme at the Khulna District Stadium where they participated in different cricketing and non-cricketing activities such as a six-a-side tournament, parents' awareness campaign and a drawing competition.

BCB's vice-president Nazmul Abedeen Fahim, additional divisional commissioner of Khulna Md Feroz Shah, police commissioner KMP Md Zulfikar Ali Haider, district commissioner of Khulna Mohammed Saiful Islam, former women's team skipper Salma Khatun, former national team batter Tushar Imran and BCB's divisional head coach for Khulna Kazi Emdadul Bashar were present on the occasion.

"On 26th of this month, we will complete our 25th year in Test cricket. It's a big day for us as we achieved a big milestone on the day," Fahim said.

"To celebrate this big occasion, we have taken some initiatives… We have arranged some cricket matches in divisional cities for children. Apart from cricket matches, there are some other activities like parents' awareness campaign, drawing competitions and stump hitting competitions. There are some fun activities as well," he said, adding that they will accord a reception to the members of the inaugural Test on June 26.

"We will accord a reception for our inaugural Test members on the 26th. Probably for the first time we will get them together and felicitate them and also hear their experiences of the inaugural Test.

"We are doing a symbolic programme all around the country. The bottom line is Test cricket is very important and if we want to do well, we need to give special emphasis here," he added.

Similar programmes will take place in divisional cities – Rajshahi (June 22), Sylhet (June 23), Chattogram (June 24), Dhaka (June 25) and Rangpur and Barishal (June 28). The reception programme of the inaugural Test members will take place at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on June 26.