The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) tour of Bangladesh during the winter of 1976/77 marked the entrance of Bangladesh into international cricket. Though the tour was very short, it gave the Bangladeshi players their first taste of international cricket.
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In May 1976 Bangladesh invited the MCC to tour. In June, the International Cricket Council discussed Bangladesh's membership and they decided to wait for the MCC tour before allowing Bangladesh membership.
The MCC team
Apart from Popplewell, whose first-class career was yet to begin, and Lofting, who never played first-class cricket, all the team had had first-class careers, of varying lengths, but only Barclay and Vernon were still playing.
The tour
The MCC team arrived at Dhaka on December 27, 1976. On December 29, they left for Rajshahi for the first 2-day match against the North Zone. However, the main attraction of the tour was the three-day unofficial Test match at Dhaka against the Bangladesh national side, which drew a total attendance of some 90,000.