Priority should be domestic cricket

It has taken Bangladesh most part of a decade to remove question marks about their ability in the international cricket arena. During this time, they have shown glimpses of brilliance, some of which promised more than the others but ultimately it remained a glimpse.
Through the one-day series win over New Zealand, some of those stinging questions have been answered and that has only happened through hard work. When everyone wondered how a 4-0 whitewash against the Kiwis became possible, the coaches, board officials and the media have pointed out the players' hard work ahead of the series. With every net session during that month-long camp, the chance of doing well against New Zealand increased.
Hardly anybody would want this success to be a one-off or only limited to the one-day format, more accurately people should be looking for ways to sustain this level of success in one-day, five-day and Twenty20 cricket.
So it is high time for Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to take the 'hard work' route in a bid to restructure domestic cricket once and for all.
Beginning from the standard, pay structure and right down to the culture attached to the game, it is blemished.
When the national cricketers miss Premier League matches or National Cricket League (NCL), the standard goes down a few notches. And it's not just the standard of cricket that is poor but grounds, pitches, dressing-rooms, etc leave a lot to be desired.
From the regional schools competition to the country's lone first-class tournament, domestic cricket has fewer things to be proud of.
But just a glance at the squad that played against New Zealand would tell you that the flawed system has managed to churn some good talents.
Players like Abdur Razzak, Imrul Kayes, Jahurul Islam, Junaed Siddiqui, Mahmudullah Riyad, Naeem Islam, Rokibul Hasan, Rubel Hossain and Shafiul Islam are direct entrants into the national team due to their domestic runs and wickets. While Riyad, Naeem and Rokibul have played for the Under-19 team, Imrul, Junaed and Shafiul have become part of the Tigers through domestic cricket.
Naeem, part of the plate-winning Under-19 World Cup side of 2004, veered off for a few years until two good seasons in limited overs and first-class cricket did it for him. Junaed spent years in the backwaters of the Dhaka leagues only to be selected for the national team on the back of some good performances.
Despite such an imperfect structure, Imrul, Riyad, and co has made it into the biggest stage.
The recent 4-0 whitewash will work as the perfect catalyst for the board to rethink the domestic game.
First on the agenda should be to make the four-day competition a more important part of Bangladesh cricket' philosophy. The NCL first-class competition has long been called a picnic game for its low standard and pay. While some of the pay has increased, the lesser number of matches (in the existing format) has affected the level of cricket played.
As an aside, if BCB goes for strengthening NCL, it can easily make a major impact on developing the game at the district level.
Better scheduling, modernising the grounds, dressing-rooms and developing sporting pitches would take domestic game to a much better level.
Development of domestic cricket would also mean that the age-group structure (read high performance camp) should also be in place and remain a major part of the players' growth.
Consider England's example: all of their players from Nasser Hussain, Ravi Bopara, Alastair Cook to Stuart Broad are products of the Under-19 setup. But, these players have become national team material only after a few seasons of fantastic domestic performances.
Definitely there wouldn't be any other alternative than a proper domestic structure but, it has still produced enough players for the national team.
And there is no denying that domestic cricket deserves the credit for every cricketer who is a Tiger.