The last day of the Year 2007 could not turn any worse for the Tigers If Queen's Park Oval was a dream then Queenstown is a living nightmare.

On March 17 2007, Tigers turned India upside down to seal a historic five-wicket triumph in their first group match of the World Cup at the Queen's Park Oval in Port of Spain and sent shockwaves throughout the cricketing fraternity.

It was not the only occasion when the country erupted into frenzied celebrations rather there were more to come from Bangladesh in the year that just ended. But the cricket-loving fans enter the New Year 2008 with a bitter memory following their shocking 10-wicket defeat at the hands of the Kiwis.

Starting the year with a 3-1 away series victory against Zimbabwe, the Tigers gradually improved their reputation as a one-day unit before they sunk in New Zealand for a contrasting finish to the year with a whitewash in the three-match series.

On the eve of the New Year, we

always love to look back at what happened in the year gone by and that was the reason we have decided to look back at what we have achieved in international cricket in 2007.

Unfortunately Bangladesh's sport at international stage is all but a story of its cricket team's success or failure and without any doubt it could only have brought back some happy memories when we look back at the Tigers' performance had they not spoiled the partyintheend.

But we have to put aside what happened in New Zealand when we sum up the year that has gone by.

Of course in terms of statistics, the failure took over the success stories but one may be fooled by only relying on the 'stupid' figures because the Tigers stood up tall to ensure that our beloved 'Red and Green' flag flew high in the game's two most important events -- ICC World Cup in West Indies and the first-ever Twenty20 World Championships in South Africa.

Out of 23 one-day internationals. Bangladesh won eight and had one success, their maiden victory

against West Indies in any form of the game, in the 1Wenty20 version but they were at their most pathetic in Test as they suffered four innings defeats out of their five games. The only draw came thanks to a rain-favoured match against India in Chittagong.

But please set aside the above figures and think of what happened in the night of March 17 when the

Tigers did more than their share to uphold the spirit of the martyrs, in what had been a month of pain for Bangladesh as regards to the struggle for freedom thirty-six years ago, as they also dedicated the success to their fellow teammate Manzarul Islam Rana, who tragically and untimely died in a road accident just few hours before the match. This was the most painful incident

of the year.

If the confirmation of the Tigers second round berth for the first time in history was not good enough, then simply recall the night of April 4 when Habibul Bashar's men caused die biggest World Cup upset after they romped to a famous 67-run victory over then number one ranked team South Africa in their World Cup Super Eights encounter at the Guyana National Stadium.

These two fascinating wins saw the country erupt into more festivities but as well as that, they also experienced the saddest part when Bangladesh lost to ICC associate member Ireland.

After four months the Tigers however produced another occasion to celebrate when they cniised to a six-wicket victory against West Indies to make themselves a passage for the second round berth in the T\venty20 World Championships.

On individual success, it would also be unwise only to judge the matter on statistics because few stunning successes of Mohammad Ashraful and Mashrafe Bin Mortaza could not be matched with any other.

How one can forget the devas

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taring exhibition of fast bowling from pace spearhead Mashrafe, whose 4-38 sunk the much-vaunted Indian batting and his brave-hearted batting effort during his maiden half-century which forced India to draw the Test in Chittagong.

And Ashraful bridged the gap between potential and performance for quite sometimes now. It was a lifetime experience for any cricket fan to watch his strokeful 87 against South Africa and another stylish-cum-breezy61 against West Indies in thel\venty20 match.

The Bangladesh captain's trademark scoop shot over fine-leg has now become very popular and tried by many and is called the Ashraful'.

The ace right-hander also salvaged some pride in the devastating tour of Sri Lanka by making an outstanding unbeaten 129 in the secondTest at P Sara in Colombo.

The cricket fraternity however were most surprised by the efforts of the baby-faced cricketers who were called a gallant new genera tion' and it was mostly because of Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim's performance in the World Cup.

Left-handed opener Tamim's arrival in the international scene was simply terrific as many still talk about his dashing batting, the way he charged the Indian bowlers,

against India during his 51-run knock

On the other hand the selection of Mushfiqur Rahim ahead of veteran Khaled Mashud had caused a massive uproar at home but the little man showed maturity beyond his years and forced the critics to say "bravo Faruque Ahmed" after his watchful unbeaten 56 against India.

But don't forget the consistent performers like Shakib Al Hasan, who scored 582 runs at an average of34.24 in 21 matches and 20 wickets with his left-arm spin. Abdur Razzak, the left-arm spinner who was highest wicket-taker with 28 wickets, and Syed Rasel, the leftarm seamer who took 18 wickets, were other notable contributors.

It was however a contrasting year for Bashar who went from hero to zero, as the most successful Bangladesh skipper was in centre stage during the World Cup but ultimately lost the captaincy to Ashraful because of his poor form besides losing the one-day place.

He had to come under a banner of 'Blame it on Bashar' and 'Captain Courageous!' during the home series against India not only because of his poor batting but also making that titanic blunder as a captain.

It is better not to say anything about the Test performance except pace bowler Shahadat Hossain's aggressive bowling which hogged

the spotlight most. He gave batsmen like Sachin Tendulkar and Mahela Jayawardene stares to irritate them. His war with Sri Lanka skipper Jayawardene in an otherwise disappointing June-July tour was something to remember.

Now give the chance to say something about Dav Whatmore who was behind the success of the Tigers.

The peaceful departure of Sri Lankan-born-AustraJian after the end of almost four-year assignment as Bangladesh coach was a unique event. He not only left with an enviable tag as the 'most successful coach' of a team but also the first among the six foreign coaches who parted with dignity and pride after the sorry and painful departures of Indian Mohinder Amarnath, West Indies great Gordon Greenidge, South African Eddie Barlow, Australian TYevor Chappell and Paltistani Mohsin Kamal.

Another significant event in country's cricket was the new office bearers in the most prestigious federation who filled the vacuum bringing in Jamie Siddons, the appointment put end the searching ofWhatmore successor.

The new coach started with new ideas and what everybody expects under his tutelage in New Year is consistent performance of the Tigers.