Cricketer’s threat

First-class cricketers have threatened to boycott the upcoming National Cricket League if the Bangladesh Cricket Board does not increase the match fees for the players.
Under a banner of Cricketers Welfare Association of Bangladesh (CWAB) the players came up in hard line in a bid to fulfill their demands.
In a formal press conference at a local hotel in Mirpur, the players of the six divisional teams demanded to fix the match fee as they claimed Tk. 35,000 for the four-dayer match, Tk. 20,000 for the one-dayer and Tk. 10,000 for the Twenty20 match.
The players said they would skip the NCL if the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) denies fulfilling their demand. CWAB President Naimur Rahman Durjoy said in line with the present cricket the BCB should increase the match fee as our players get comparatively a poor amount than the other country’s players.
National team’s vice-captain Shakib Al Hasan and former skipper Mohammad Ashraful also supported CWAB’s decision and termed the present match fee is so little for the players.  “I think Tk. 35,000 is not that much big amount for the BCB,” Shakib added.
“In the other country, the match fee was so handsome. So why we won’t get that sort of handsome amount,” Ashraful remarked.  As per the present scale, the match fee for the four-dayer is Tk. 12,000 while Tk. 7,000 for the one-dayer.
Not only match fee, CWAB also demanded to retain the NCL format that was in 2008. They want the game to be held as home and away basis. BCB in this year changed the format and abolished home and away basis game.
The CWAB also wants to defer the league which is scheduled to start on January 1. CWAB members want to start the league on January 5 as they said the First Division League will be going on in between. Four players from First Division League also will play the NCL.
In the press conference, Shakib Al Hasan, Tusher Imran and Sahagir Hossain Pavel represented Khulna Division, Mohammad Ashraful Sharif and Javed Omar Belim Gullu represented Dhaka, Tareq Aziz and Faysal Hossain Decense represented Chittagong, Rajin Saleh and Alok Kapali represent Sylhet while Hannan Sarkar, Shahriar Nafees and Imran Ahmed represented Barisal Division.
The BCB however did not find any logic of demanding for increasing the match fee as they said cricketers should understand the match fee in the NCL was set in line with the budget that was approved for this cricket season.
At the same time, they didn’t think only for the four players they should defer the league.
Am official of BCB tournament committee said they did not get any formal letter from CWAB in this regard.