Holders Rajshahi will face Sylhet at the Shamsul Huda Stadium in Jessore in the opening match of the 12th National Cricket League to be held from September 29 to October 2, Bangladesh Cricket Board said on Wednesday.
In the other two matches of the opening round, Chittagong will take on Barisal at the Shaheed Chandu Stadium in Bogra while Dhaka will face Khulna at the Shaheed Kamaruzzaman Stadium in Rajshahi.
The format of the league, the only first-class competition of the country, is similar to that of last year meaning the six divisional teams will play each other on a single league basis in the first phase and two teams will be eliminated for the next phase.
Four teams, who will qualify for the second round, will again play each other on a single league basis and two teams will advance to the final, which will be a five-day affair.
All matches of the first phase will be held at neutral venues, mostly in Jessore, Bogra, BKSP and Sylhet as the regular first-class venues are currently under renovation for the World Cup 2011.
The BCB, however, increased the match fees for the players with each receiving Tk 15,000 for a game, which is Tk 3,000 more than that of last year. The travelling allowance and dearness allowance have been enhanced from Tk 600 to Tk 750 and Tk 750 to Tk 1,000 respectively.
The prize money for the champion team has been increased from Tk 10 lakh to 12 lakh and for the runner-up team from Tk 5 lakh to Tk 6 lakh. Hafizur Rahman, member-secretary of the tournament committee, told New Age the increased match fees, allowances and prize money will take the budget for the tournament past Tk 4 crore.
The chance is high that the BCB will have to provide the entire money from its own coffers as it did not find any sponsor for the tournament yet. Hafiz said they are in touch with a few television channels for broadcasting some matches of the tournament, although there was no real progress in this regard yet.
