Joi Bangla

We're told that 'Joi Bangla' means 'victory Bangladesh'. If it means 'Bangladesh smells of wee' or something like that, we're sorry. We've taken that translation on trust, because that's the kind of people we are here at King Cricket.

Bangladesh beat South Africa. Everyone else is happy about this, right? We're not on our own here, are we? Sometimes it's hard to tell. We're delighted. Bangladesh have now beaten two Test playing nations in this World Cup, which is more than India, Pakistan, England and the West Indies have managed.

When Bangladesh beat India in the first round, we pondered whether everyone had now accepted that they were a decent side. As a result of this, we didn't really make a big song and dance about the victory. Not by our standards anyway. It turns out that this was a colossal mistake.

We listened to Test Match Special when Bangladesh lost to New Zealand and it enraged us. It turns out people haven't accepted that Bangladesh are decent. Far from it. Jonathan Agnew, who we're really, really going off of late, spent half of his commentary stint whinging and moaning about non-competitive matches featuring the likes of Bangladesh. The insinuation was that the World Cup would be better without their presence.

Bollocks. It seems to us that Bangladesh aren't allowed to lose games, because it's 'evidence' that they're not up to standard. When they do win, it's a colossal surprise. Well they didn't just beat South Africa, they pretty much annihilated them. Only Herschelle Gibbs, batting at seven, passed 50 and to be honest, South Africa's reply never had a chance.

Perhaps it's time to restate our case about how Bangladesh are on an upward curve.