The Bangladesh Cricket Board said it will take to task Zimbabwean cricketers Sean Ervine and Sean Williams for unfairly tarnishing the image of the country to international media in a story regarding their payment in the Dhaka Premier League. The Zimbabwean duo made claims on Monday to leading cricket website Cricinfo that they were left hostage by their hotel authority after their club, Brothers Union, did not pay their bills and wages.
The BCB claimed the players should have addressed the issue through the proper internal channels rather than contacting the international media, which did serious damage to the reputation of Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has already earned a bad name for its notorious pay structure in the Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 tournament and officials said they would have done their best to avoid similar issues in the DPL if they were informed.
‘We will take the matter seriously as we will not tolerate anything that damages our reputation,’ BCB chief executive officer Nizamuddin Chowdhury told New Age on Tuesday.
‘It is yet to be decided what kind of steps we will eventually take, as that needs to be taken in the board meeting, but we have taken notice of the incident and are keeping a close eye on it,’ said Nizamuddin.
Earlier on Monday it was reported that the players’ passports had been confiscated by the Tropical Daisy hotel because of an unpaid bill, making it impossible for them to leave.
When contacted by New Age on Tuesday, Ervine said that he had received the outstanding dues from Brothers manager Amin Khan and was looking forward to flying to England to play county cricket.
‘I received my payment from Brothers,’ Ervine told New Age. ‘I am not sure whether I will be able to board tonight as there are lots of things happening, but we are extremely thankful to Brothers manager Amin Khan,’ he said.
Ervine admitted to having complained about the payment and put the blame on Brothers coach Mominul Khan for the entire miscommunication.
‘Our coach Mominul is to be blamed for the entire episode,’ said Ervine. ‘The money that we received was supposed to be handed over to us last Monday. Our coach Mominul was expected to provide us with everything that we needed, including our hotel bills and match fees.
‘Mominul went missing without informing us after the match against [Sheikh] Jamal [on November 18], and after several attempts he could not be reached. It made us shaky, prompting us to express our concern,’ he said.
Ervine and Williams arrived in Dhaka on October 29 and have had to stay seven days longer than planned because of this payment issue. They were initially scared when the hotel authorities took away their passports and said they could not be obtained unless they cleared the outstanding bills.
Brothers manager Amin Khan said that both Ervine and Williams received their documents and the players had to face frustration because of some internal club problems.
‘It was not intentional, and our club does not carry this reputation,’ said Amin.
‘Earlier Ervine was due to fly to the UK, while Williams was supposed to stay back to play in a corporate Twenty20 tournament in Chittagong,’ said Amin.
‘Later, as Williams decided not to participate in Chittagong, we had to change our plan to clear them off because we thought we had enough time in our hand,’ he said.
Ervine also confirmed that Williams will leave the country.
-With New Age input
