Another Caribbean voyage for Mominul?

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and Cricket West Indies (CWI) confirmed on Wednesday that Bangladesh's A team would play two four-day matches and three 50-over matches in the West Indies against their counterparts in August.

The assignment will be Bangladesh A's first away tour in a while and will go a long way to getting next the generation of players ready for international assignments. But the tour could also serve the BCB's purpose of providing out-of-favour players such as Mominul Haque, Soumya Sarkar and Shadman Islam with the game time they need to help return to form.

Bangladesh do not have any Tests until November, when India are slated to visit for two Tests and three ODIs.

As Mominul was dropped following a run of poor scores in the Test format, BCB president Nazmul Hassan hoped the former Test captain could return to his best through domestic matches. However, the A team's tour provides a very good opportunity to provide some game time to Mominul, who does not feature in any of the other formats in the senior side.

"The matter is certainly up for discussion but we have to hold talks on Mominul's inclusion. As you know, he has just returned from the West Indies after travelling a long distance. So sending him back with the A side does put a burden on him. We will take a decision following discussions," chief selector Minhajul Abedin Nannu told The Daily Star yesterday.

The A team recently played a four-day fixture against the High Performance (HP) team in Rajshahi. Cricket operations committee chairman Jalal Yunus yesterday told media that 70 per cent of the HP team's players were in the A team. "We will try to keep most of the High-Performance team's players [in the A team]," he said, informing that the focus would be on improving in Tests with a new batch.

Although performances in T20 cricket have suffered since the T20 World Cup debacle, the BCB feels improving in Tests holds the key to improving in other formats.

"We're not doing well in Tests and we're very worried about that. The board president has formed a working group and chairmen from the cricket operations, game development, HP and age-group committees will hold a meeting after Eid. We have to make long term plans and we want to focus on what facilities and advantages can be given to cricketers so they are interested in playing Tests. Those who play Tests usually focus fully on the format. We want to sit with those who are more eager and have determination to play in the format," Jalal told the media yesterday, adding that the longer-version cricket would be prioritised because doing well in that format would bolster confidence for other formats.