Sheikh Kamal International Cricket Stadium in Cox’s Bazar received a severe jolt in getting ICC’s approval as a Test venue when the false ceiling of the its dressing room collapsed during the opening day of the first four-day match between Bangladesh A team and Zimbabwe A on Monday.
This is the first stadium of the country to be solely funded by the Bangladesh Cricket Board and was inaugurated as the eighth cricket venue of the country during the World Twenty20.
But the incident just seven months after its inauguration proved that it was not properly made in a planned way. That also raised quite a few eyebrows about its success of becoming an international venue.
Former Bangladesh captain and currently Bangladesh A team selector, Minhajul Abedin, was lucky to escape unhurt, despite having all the possibilities of sustaining a severe injury when the incident occurred at 10:30am as he had left the dressing room just a minute earlier.
‘I am just lucky,’ Minhajul told New Age on Sunday.
‘I just left the place a minute earlier to spend some time with chief selector Faruk [Ahmed]. Faruk could also be in trouble had he not left a couple of minutes earlier,’ he said.
Bangladesh were fielding during the time that enabled the players to remain unhurt but the officials and local organisers said that it was anticipated as the stadium was not constructed in a planned way. As the atmosphere of Cox’s Bazar contains a lot of salt and salt destroys the iron rods and angle-bars made this thing happen, The BCB didn’t take that into consideration. Moreover, the BCB never disclosed the amount of money they spent for the construction of the stadium.
‘The false ceiling fell because the materials that were used are almost outdated now,’ said an official asking not to be named.
‘The sea is very near to the stadium and it does make some impact on the metal’s longevity. It won’t be surprising if the whole structure is destroyed due the site chosen for constructing the stadium,’ he added.
Meanwhile, BCB grounds committee chairman Lokman Hossain Bhuiya said they were unaware of these things.
‘Actually we were not informed about it. At that time we had to do it in a hurry for the World Twenty20. As a result we failed to use proper materials for making the ground,’ Lokman told the reporters.
Later, the workers repaired the ceiling quickly.
-With New Age input
