The next edition of the Bangladesh Premier League cannot be staged before the forthcoming ICC World Twenty20, said the officials of the Bangladesh Cricket Board on Sunday.
The BCB’s tournament committee sat with the members of the cricket operations committee to discuss the draft copy of the domestic calendar for the 2013-14 season that is expected to be placed at the executive committee meeting at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium today.
The BCB officials emphasised on giving more preference to longer version cricket and are keen to stage the National Cricket League, the four-day tournament, followed by the franchise-based Bangladesh Cricket League.
‘There is no chance to stage the BPL before the next World Cup,’ Naimur Rahman, chairman of the tournament committee, told reporters after the meeting.
‘We don’t have any slot for the BPL before the ICC event considering our international commitments,’ said Naimur.
‘We are yet to finalise the calendar but we expect to complete it by tomorrow [today] before the board meeting. But as we have already wasted a lot of time we need to adjust the calendar keeping in mind the two longer-version tournaments,’ he said.
However, Naimur could not confirm the starting date of the Dhaka Premier League that has been deferred four times since February.
The BCB expects to complete the DPL player recruitment programme in the last week of August and start the league in the first week of September.
‘The DPL is not solely in the hands of the board as there are clubs and players involved,’ said Naimur.
‘The clubs have a big involvement and there is always a fear factor and a lot of things depend on the player transfers,’ said Naimur.
‘After the New Zealand series we want to complete the remaining part of the DPL which we expect to begin in the first week of September.
‘After the DPL we want to stage the NCL in November and after that the BCL,’ Naimur added.
The Sri Lankan team are scheduled to tour in January and there is a possibility of hosting the Asia Cup in February, 2014.
In June, the Indian cricket team are expected arrive in Bangladesh to play three one-day matches.
The ICC World Twenty20 will be played from March 16 to April 6, 2014 at different venues across the country and will be participated by 16 men’s teams and 10 women’s teams.
Meanwhile, apart from approving the domestic calendar, the BCB will have a lot more important things to discuss in today’s meeting.
On the agenda there is a discussion regarding the progress of the ICC World Twenty20 preparations and the holding of the next BCB election that had received a green signal from the Supreme Court recently.
-With New Age input
