2018 BCL starts tomorrow

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) yesterday announced the schedule for the first three rounds of the Bangladesh Cricket League (BCL), the country's second first class competition. The tournament will kick off on January 9 across four different venues.

The first round will see fast bowler Taskin Ahmed, who was dropped from the national team for the first two ODIs of the upcoming tri-series, feature for Walton Central Zone in their opening game against defending champions BCB North Zone at the Sylhet International Cricket stadium.

Meanwhile opening batsman Soumya Sarkar, who was also left out of the Bangladesh ODI squad due to his recent slump in form, will look to return among the runs when his side, Prime Bank South Zone, take on Islami Bank East Zone on the opening day at BKSP.

The next two rounds, the first of which will be held at the same venues, are to take place on January 15 and January 21 respectively. There will be a change in venues for the third round though as the rest of the games will be played at the Sheikh Abu Nasir stadium in Khulna and Shahid Kamruzzaman stadium in Rajshahi.

The final three rounds will be held after a break for the Dhaka Premier League which is tentatively scheduled to begin on February 5.