The Bangladesh Cricket Board is determined to complete the domestic tournaments as per schedule without waiting for the participation of national players, said a senior official on Monday.
BCB’s cricket operations committee announced a draft of domestic calendar after a coordination meeting with the other relevant committees. According to the draft proposal, the BCB will start their domestic season with National Cricket League from September 17 and scheduled to be finished on November 8.
It will be followed by the much-talked Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 tournament from November 25 till December 25.
Franchise-based four-day tournament called Bangladesh Cricket League comes up next from January 5 till February 20 while prestigious Dhaka Premier League will be held from March 11 to May 9.
Some of the domestic competitions will have schedule clashes with international matches, but Naimur Rahman, the chairman of cricket operations, said they will not delay the domestic tournaments for international competitions.
‘Every year we say that the domestic cricket calendar should not be disturbed. But we cannot maintain that always,’ Naimur told reporters at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
‘In club and franchise-based competition there is always a demand for national cricketers. But considering the reality we need to come to a decision.
‘The national players will play subject to their availability. But the domestic cricket will remain at the same place.’
Naimur said that BCB is in favour of hosting the tournaments without promising the participation of national players because sometimes they can be busy with international matches.
Bangladesh will host Australia for two-match Test series from September 28 till October 22 and play a home series against Zimbabwe from January 11 to February 17.
The Asia Cup Twenty20 tournament could be held in UAE or Sri Lanka from March 1-10 while the ICC World Twenty20 is scheduled from March 11 to April 3.
Bangladesh A team will be travelling to South Africa and Zimbabwe from October 15 till November 18. ICC Under-19 World Cup will be held in Bangladesh from Januar 22 to February 14.
‘We have to balance everything. We have to consider whether we can get the venue, the cricketers for their national commitments,’ said Naimur.
‘We proposed the calendar taking everything into consideration,’ he said.
Naimur pointed out that this was the best option available to them considering they are facing ground problems.
‘We also chose the option of holding domestic tournaments without national players as it will allow us to have involvement of more players in the domestic circuit,’ said Naimur
‘We also need to look at the availability of the umpires. Another big issue is venue. Though the problem is decreasing but still it is insufficient. We need more grounds,’ said Naimur.
‘If a field holds matches for more than 60 days in a year it is considered as overused. We are trying to minimize pressure on fields,’ he said.
The First Division League is scheduled from October 12 till December 12 while the Second Division will be played from December 17 to February 5.
The Third Division League will be played from January 17 to March 15.
The Under-19 franchise tournament will be played from October 17 till November 20.
-With New Age input
