Pak tour, Mash future among agendas
There will be quite a few agendas on the table when Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB) first meeting of 2020 takes place at the home of cricket in Mirpur today. Bangladesh’s tour of Pakistan will be top of the agendas for discussion as BCB and its Pakistan counterpart are yet to finalise the tour scheduled for later this month. There are a few other agendas including a new central contract for the national cricketers and appointment of a new bowling coach. The Daily Star assesses the probable agendas which are expected to be raised today.
Pakistan tour
As per the ICC FTP [Future Tour Programme], Bangladesh are scheduled to tour Pakistan later this month for three T20Is and two Tests. The tour, however, hit a roadblock when BCB raised concerns over long stay in Pakistan, proposing to play only the T20I series on Pakistan soil and having the Test series take place at a neutral venue. Following a series of communication between the BCB and the PCB, the latter offered Bangladesh to play the Test series and reschedule the T20I matches ahead of the ICC World T20 later this year.
However, the BCB is still planning to play the shortest format in Pakistan and the delay over the decision has left the cricketers ill at ease, particularly over the length of stay in Pakistan. Majority of the cricketers, who are to be part of the tour, are confused whether to start mental preparation for the tour.
Meanwhile, the recent political crisis involving Iran, a neighbour to Pakistan, has created yet another dilemma for the BCB. To make matters worse, there was a powerful bomb explosion at a mosque in Balochistan province on Friday, killing at least 16 people and leaving 20 others injured, three days after a bomb had claimed two lives in Quetta. BCB was still in a dilemma over the Pakistan tour until yesterday as the board was waiting for a government order.
National team players’ central contract
There have been a lot of talk over a new central contract of the cricketers for the year 2020. It was learned that national team’s ODI skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza is likely to be handed a new central contract. According to sources, the board may not consider a contract for Shakib Al Hasan, who was banned from all forms of cricket for one year in October last year for his failure to report corrupt approaches from bookies. There are talks that the board could devise two separate type of contracts for the red and white ball cricketers, providing special incentive to those who only play the longest format. However, it will be interesting to see whether the board discusses reform in salary structure of women cricketers, something which was raised by the male cricketers during their strike last year with an aim to minimise the salary gap between men and women.
Mashrafe’s future
There are a lot of whispers over Mashrafe’s future. It has been learnt that the board may consider the veteran pacer as the one-day captain in the coming days despite the inspirational cricketer not been in the best of forms since the World Cup last year. It is understood that had it not been for a ban, Shakib would have been the automatic choice for captaincy in all three formats. In Shakib’s absence, the board wants to bank on Mashrafe in ODIs for some more time.
Appointing a new bowling coach
Since Charl Langeveldt was released by the BCB following a request from Cricket South Africa in December last year, the post for the Tigers’ bowling coach has remained vacant. Former West Indies pacer and coach Ottis Gibson and former South African pacer Nantie Hayward, both of whom worked in the ongoing Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League, are in talks with the BCB for the post.
Other issues
Among other issues, the board is to discuss the upcoming FTP schedules for the year 2020 along with the latest developments regarding the proposed cricket stadium in Purbachal.
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