The players were in a meeting at BCB office at the time of writing of this report. Top cricketers of the country on Wednesday demanded resignations of office bearers of Cricketers' Welfare Association of Bangladesh's (CWAB) and a fair share of the revenue earned by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) from different tournaments.
On behalf of the cricketers, barrister Mustafizur Rahman told these at a crowded press conference held at a city hotel in the evening. With this, the move of the cricketers, the current crisis of Bangladesh cricket has taken a new turn. “Cricketers want resignation of office bearers of CWAB and a fair share of the revenue earned by BCB from different tournaments, said barrister Mustafizur Rahman.
Bangladesh cricketers, mostly national team stars like Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah Riyad appointed Supreme Court lawyer barrister Mustafizur as their spokesman. Most of the national players were present at the press conference. But only Shakib Al Hasan talked before the media.
Shakib Al Hasan said that he is hopeful that the problem will be resolved through meeting with the BCB. “We will meet with BCB as they have called us for meeting. We have respect towards BCB”, he said. The all-rounder also said that nobody has personally attacked them. He also said, the cricketers and the BCB are tied with the same thread.
Earlier on Monday, the cricketers placed an 11-point demand and announced that they will not take part in cricketing activities unless their demands were met. The cricketers have already put forward a 13-point demand and already have sent a letter to the BCB presenting their 13-point demands, said the lawyer.
The BCB had informed the media that they will talk to the cricketers to reach a solution. Other 13-point demands of the cricketers include, returning to the previous model of Dhaka League and BPL from next year, increasing the match fee in the first-class cricket to 1 lakh from present Tk 35,000, hiking the salaries of the national cricketers, local coaches, physios, trainers and groundsmen, arranging more domestic cricket events, fixing stable domestic calendar, clearing cricketers’ dues for the Dhaka League and ensuring cricketers’ opportunities to play more foreign leagues.
The cricketers held the press conference immediately after BCB President Nazmul Hasan and Cricket Welfare Association of Bangladesh (CWAB) president Naimur Rahman Durjoy had been called by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her official residence Gonobhaban.
Emerging out of the Gonobhaban, BCB President talked to the media and claimed that people are conspiring to destroy the image of Bangladesh cricket abroad and instigating the country’s top cricketers to stand against the board. The BCB president came up with the remark in an emergency press conference at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in the city.
“We’ve seen what they (cricketers) have demanded. We are shocked because they never came to us with these demands before. Had they come to us we would have accepted all the demands,” Nazmul told the media.
In their 11-point demand, which had been put earlier on Monday, the cricketers asked for salary hike in the First-class cricket and increasing facilities for the First-class cricketers. At the same time, they urged for bringing back the open-transfer system in club cricket so that the cricketers can choose their teams in the domestic circuit.
The BCB, however, opted to continue its cricket calendar of the ongoing National Cricket League (NCL) and the practice camp of the national team ahead of the India tour. Bangladesh are scheduled to play three T20s and two Tests in India next month.
Proceedings throughout Wednesday
At 10:00 am the arrival of trainer Mario Villavarayan at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium looked to have created a stir among the available journalists considering the nation’s cricket went into deep crisis as the cricketers called for an unprecedented strike on Monday to press home their 11-point demands, leaving next month's tour of India uncertain.
Sakib along with several senior national cricketers said that the strike has been effective from October 21 and added that unless their demands were met by the board it will continue. The following day Nazmul Hassan blasted cricketers terming it as a conspiracy theory as he believes that it was an attempt to tarnish the image of the country.
According to BCB insiders, there was an optional fitness camp for the cricketers and Mario was expected to conduct it but as the players did not arrive he went back without doing anything. At 12:00pm BCB chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury arrived at that point of time and he provided some sort of hope for resumption of cricket when he announced that he managed to contact national opener Tamim Iqbal, probably for the first time since the day they announced the 11-point demand.
“We tried to communicate with the players after yesterday’s press conference and I have talked with national team player Tamim Iqbal. We all know about these financial problems and are eager to solve them, it is only a matter of time,” Nizamuddin told reporters at the SBNS. “If they sit with the board these problems can be solved. We already have known about what their demands are and if we sit together it can be solved,’’ he said regarding the demands that were mostly financial.
At 1:00pm BCB president Nazmul Hasan along with CWAB president Naimur Rahman went to Gonobhaban to meet with Prime Minister Sheik Hasina and from there they came straight to BCB. BCB media committee chairman Jalal Yunus afterwards said that they are waiting for the players to come and meet them.
The board president was present there along with some other board directors who were trying to communicate with the cricketers. “We are waiting for them and we are ready for dialogue or negotiation,” he said. Right after this the press conference concerning the 13-point demands was held in presence of senior national team members.
