It was apparent from the moment he met Bangladesh cricket captain Habibul Bashar that the American was out of his league and headed for trouble. The two had been brought together on the set of a milk commercial, shot yesterday under a blazing sun at the Bangabandhu National Stadium.

"So, you're going to bowl me?" Bashar asked playfully. The American actor, taken aback by the question, replied, "Actually, I don't know a thing about cricket. I was hoping you could teach me." He laughed nervously, oblivious of the eminent personality he was addressing. But Bashar, ever gracious, replied, "Oh, it shouldn't be a problem at all."

Coming from Bangladesh's top batsman who has three hundreds and over two thousand Test runs under his belt, that should have been reassuring enough. However, it meant little to a person whose knowledge about cricket has only seen marginal improvement since arriving in Bangladesh he now knows it's not a word used only to describe a certain small brownish jumping insect.

His role was simple: forget your American origins and pretend that you are, at least as long as the cameras are running, from a nation where people actually know what cricket is. It was a good illusion until things actually got going. He had put on white track pants and white shirt, standard of a Test match, suncream under his eyes and grim determination on his face.

But then the director requested him to bowl after finding a Frenchman, originally picked for that action, a disaster in the making. The American gripped the ball, feeling its dense firmness for the first time in his life. A small crowd looked on, as the director sat down at the end of the lane, his camera and crew stationed behind him. When "Action!" came, the American made a valiant but clumsy approach, his elbow breaking wildly as he unleashed, rather pitched, the ball with a fury of a baseball throw straight at the director. Gasps followed, but luckily the ball bounced before ricocheting off the director's shoulder and he was unhurt. Politely, the crew instructed the American to take a catching position behind Bashar, definitely a much safer option for everyone concerned.

"I'm just glad it didn't hit the camera," the American said. "That thing looks really expensive."

Note: The events narrated above actually happened. The American actor is originally a journalist who has made enormous strides in mustering the 'must-know' Bangla phrases including 'oi geli'. He is still trying to figure out how something as deadly as a cricket ball can become a play thing.