The Bangladesh Cricket Board on Sunday in its 14th meeting of Board of Directors has approved the controversial two-tier selection panel for the national cricket team, ending all speculations regarding the matter. The two-tier system will have a three-member selection panel, headed by a chief selector, who will submit their team to the cricket operations chief, also the convener of the committee.
The second tier will be comprised of national team head coach and manager, who will discuss the team before sending it to the BCB president for final approval.
‘We did not bring any change to selection committee,’ BCB president Nazmul Hasan said after the meeting. ‘It will be a six-member committee, basically with three-member panel.
‘Anyone can head the panel; you can call it chief selector or chairman of selection panel. They will decide who will be in the team. Then, before the series, cricket operations chairman, who will be the convener of the committee, will call a meeting. Coach and manager will also join the committee.
‘Coach will tell if he has any strategic plan. Manager can give his input he wants. They will send the team to me with their signature,’ said Nazmul, adding that former national player Sazzad Ahmed will replace former national captain Habibul Bashar in the three-member selection panel.
Bashar will be in charge of women’s team while Hannan Sarkar and Hasibul Hossain will join Ehsanul Haque in the junior selection committee, said the BCB president.
The BCB meeting also decided to extend the contract of national coach Chandika Hathurusinghe, fielding coach Richard Halsall, assistant coach Ruwan Kalpage and strength and conditioning coach Mario Villavarayan until the World Cup 2019.
Nazmul said they are also in discussion with two other individuals about the appointment of national team bowling coach, a position which fell vacant after Zimbabwean Heath Streak refused to continue.
‘Two persons have shown interest about working as bowling coach. We have also reached agreement about financial matter. Hopefully we will be able to make final decision by Wednesday,’ said Nazmul, without disclosing any name.
Bowling review committee
In the meeting, the BCB formed a four-member bowling action review committee, headed by BCB’s chairman of media committee Jalal Yunus. The other members of committee are Dipu Roy Chowdhury, Golam Faruque Suru and Omar Khaled Rumi.
BCB president Nazmul said the committee members already informed the board about the procedure of the review which was approved by the Board. A few other technical experts would join the committee later, he said.
BPL starts on November 6
The BCB in the meeting approved the domestic calendar, according to which the next edition of the Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 competition will start on November 6. The BCB also decided to take legal action against BPL franchise Sylhet Superstars, which failed to fulfill their financial obligations. Nazmul said they wanted to encash the bank guarantee provided by the franchise but could not do so due to some reasons. ‘Sylhet Supersters owe Tk three to four crore to us. They created some problems. We will now take legal actions against them.’
72-hour ultimatum for DPL teams
The BCB meeting also gave a 72-hour ultimatum to Dhaka Premier League clubs, who failed to clear at least 60 per cent players’ payment so far. BCB said it will pay the money to players after the deadline but will take tough action against the defaulters.
Rubel included in payroll
The meeting also included paceman Rubel Hossain in the national payroll after omitting him earlier on disciplinary ground. Rubel was earlier dropped from the list of contracted players after he failed to follow instructions of coach Hathurusinghe that would help him recover from injury.
No discussion on two-tier Test
The BCB did not discuss the proposed two-tier Test format as Nazmul said it is too early to think about the matter. ‘We did not discuss the matter because the issue is yet to be formally discussed in ICC. It was discussed only in CEC meeting,’ said Nazmul.
-With New Age input
