U-16 cricket from tomorrow

The Standard Chartered Young Tigers Under-16 National Cricket tournament will get underway tomorrow with the same old promise of making it a real breeding ground for young talents.
BKSP will take on Dhaka Ideal School in the opening match at the Dhanmondi Cricket Stadium.
The number of participating schools has been increased this year as a total of 567 teams, 103 schools more than the last year, will take part in the 50-over-a-side competition in 72 venues across the country. A total of 539 schools will first compete in the district round and then 64 district champions will qualify for the divisional round. After the knock out basis divisional round, eight teams--six divisional champions and two Dhaka Metro schools--will play in the knockout basis national round for the championship.
The development committee of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) arranged a press conference at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday in connection with the tournament where the officials faced a volley of questions regarding the poor standard of the tournament.
It was told last year that BCB's main focus would be to ensure a quality tournament not captivating only on the number of participating teams but once again the mass participation was highlighted rather than the quality.
"We know there are some problems but it is impossible to give everything a right shape overnight. We are working on making it a fruitful event and you know the number of participating teams has decreased in the Dhaka metropolis after our scrutiny. We also want to set a criterion for the participating schools but we have to wait to achieve the goal," said Jalal Ahmed Chowdhury, chairman of the tournament management committee.
In response to a question Jalal Ahmed said that it would not be fair to term it a picnic tournament but he admitted some gross mistakes had happened in last few seasons like the scoreboard being issued without a match played.
"We are informed about such bad happenings and that's why we are now very much careful," said Jalal Ahmed.
As a symbol of school tournament product, left-handed national batsman Mehrab Hossain appeared in the press conference to highlight the importance of the tournament but the officials failed to inform details about last year outcomes.
"I don't have the exact data in my hand but nearly 30 players was picked up from the last year tournament and we are working with them," said Jalal Ahmed.
Bitopi Das Chowdhury, head of corporate affairs of Standard Chartered Bank, also spoke on the occasion.
"We are delighted to continue our partnership with BCB. We believe this year's tournament will be even more successful in identifying real talents and bringing them to national attention," hoped Bitopi.