When Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Ali Asghar formed a two-member inquiry committee on March 19 to unearth the reason(s) behind the country's disastrous World Cup campaign in South Africa, the common fear was that it was going to be yet another eyewash and a formula to create scapegoats. That apprehension intensified when the probe body of Commodore (retd.) Mujibur Rahman and Syed Shamim Ahsan failed to complete their investigation within the three-week deadline. The delay prompted many to believe that it was an all-too familiar stunt on the part of the establishment that begins with a bang but eventually gets lost in the tangle of red tape. After months of anxious, and at times frustrating anticipation, the committee finally submitted its findings to the BCB chief on May 27. And just when everybody was getting excited to know the contents of the report, which might bring to light the reasons behind Bangladesh's sorry story in South Africa, the Board president surprisingly decided to sit on it indefinitely in a clear violation of his earlier promise. Ashgar had gone on record as saying that as soon as he receives the report he would make the findings public through a press briefing, if possible on the same day. However, ten days have elapsed since the submission of the report and the Board president only lately declared that he would be making a statement to the press on June 7 on the topic.

Amidst all this uncertainty, the sports section of She ^aily ^tar rather by chance, got hold of a copy of that top-secret document recently. After going through it, we found the report to be refreshingly bold in its assertions and rational in its recommendations. We feel that the 31-page document should be brought to light, even if not in its entirety, so that our readers can get a proper perspective of WHAT WENT WRONG IN SOUTH AFRICA AND WHO WERE TO BLAME.

Following is the reproduction of the text of the Probe Report without its recommendations.