The committee yesterday announced that they would not be able to allow venues for any domestic competitions including the Mirzapore Tea Fifth National Cricket League from January 1 to mid February due to preparation for the ICC Under-19 Youth World Cup.

The juvenile cricket showpiece involving the ten Test playing nations and six associate members of International Cricket Council (ICC) will be held across the country from February 15.

"We need minimum one and a half months to fully prepare the venues for the youth competition. There is no way we can spare the venues for domestic competitions if we are to hold the mega event successfully," said member secretary of grounds committee Rafiqul Islam Babu.

The latest development came as a shocking surprise to the tournament committee, which was desperately looking to give the National League a real shape after two years of flop.

With the competition only one round old, the tournament committee now can hold only two more games if they are to comply with the latest decision of the grounds committee. The first phase of the marathon National League was scheduled to be completed by January 23.

"It will be a big blow for us. No doubt the ICC Under-19 World Cup is the biggest event the country has ever staged, but the National League is also very import. Besides, they (grounds committee) should have informed us beforehand about the non-availability of the grounds," said member secretary of tournament committee Adnan Rahman Dipon.

He said that it was also unfair that the whole domestic calendar would now be suspended for one particular competition.

Cricket has suffered in the past also because of unplanned scheduling. Apart from the National League, the Dhaka Cricket Leagues are also set to face a deadlock.

"The members of the grounds committee were present when we finalised the fixtures of the National League. Why did they not veto it then?" questioned Dipon.

But Babu did not agree with Dipon's side of the story saying, they had raised the issue several times and made it clear that they would not be able to give the venues from January 1.

The Youth World Cup, the third most important event on the ICC calendar after the World Cup and the Champions Trophy, will be held in eight different venues in the country. Those are Bangabandhu National Stadium, Fatullah Cricket Stadium, BKSP Cricket ground, MA Aziz Stadium in Chittagong, Chittagong Divisional Stadium, Khulna Stadium, Rajshahi Stadium and Bogra Stadium.

Besides, the grounds committee is also preparing another twenty odd venues to provide practice facilities for 16 participating teams.

"We are preparing 21 practice grounds with international standard apart from the eight match venues. It's a massive responsibility and if we are not given enough uninterrupted time to work it would be impossible for us with such limited manpower to complete everything on time," said Babu while defending the decision.

He also informed that ICC pitch consultant Andy Atkinson would fly to Dhaka in the first week of the new year to oversee and assist the on-going preparation.