The Bangladesh Cricket Board’s cricket operations committee finalised the domestic calendar for the 2013-14 season despite strong opposition by its tournament committee, said BCB officials on Monday.
The two committees were at loggerheads after the cricket operations committee placed the Bangladesh Premier League, the country’s lone Twenty20 competition, ahead of the Bangladesh Cricket League, a franchise-based longer version tournament.
Earlier both the committees were of the opinion that the BCL should start just after the National Cricket League, the main first-class cricket tournament, which is expected to follow the Dhaka Premier League.
The DPL that could not be held in the previous season for several reasons is now scheduled to begin on September 3.
It created some schedule logjam which made the BCB think of shifting the cash-rich BPL after the ICC World Twenty20 and hold the BCL in January immediately after the NCL. But the plan was reversed at the cricket ops meeting much to the surprise of some officials.
In the proposed domestic calendar, which should be approved by the BCB ad hoc committee, the 2013-14 season will start with the NCL from November 25. The BPL will begin on January 3, while the Dhaka Premier League and the BCL will start on April 25 and May 25 respectively.
Cricket Operation chief Enayet Hossain Siraj said they decided to hold the BPL before BCL to help the Bangladesh players prepare for the ICC World Twenty20, scheduled from March 16 to April 6.
‘It would be a 26-day affair which will help our players prepare for the ICC World Twenty20,’ Siraj told New Age
Naimur Rahman, BCB’s tournament committee chairman, opposed the idea of giving more preference to the BPL instead of the BCL.
‘I am against this domestic calendar personally as the preference of BPL over BCL cannot be justified,’ Naimur told New Age.
‘I think the BCL should have been given more preference instead of the BPL because among the three formats we lack mostly in Test cricket,’ said Naimur.
‘But they [cricket-operation] argued that if the BPL is shifted to April than it won’t be a profitable venture as the international players will not be available because the IPL is schedule to start at that point in time,’ he said.
‘Though there is logic behind it but we must try to understand where our priority lies and act accordingly,’ he added.
‘When our standard of Test cricket is such low I am of the opinion that it will be better to promote the BCL because that will allow our cricketers to develop their skill in the longer version.
‘If we learn to promote the BCL then the cricketers will naturally increase their focus on the NCL because only 80 top-class performers of the NCL will participate in this franchise-based completion,’ he said.
Only the best performers of the NCL played in last year’s inaugural edition of the BCL.
-With New Age input
