Academies first step in BCB decentralisation

DHAKA: The long-delayed decentralisation of Bangladesh cricket is closer to reality. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has announced plans to start running academies outside Dhaka by the middle of this year. The academies are part of an expansive board plan to form regional cricket associations; a model has always existed only in theory for the past 18 years, but was included in the board’s constitution in 2012.

Finally, the BCB is taking important steps. Board president Nazmul Hassan’s timeline suggests that at least by next month, the board should have a working proposal on regional cricket bodies, upon which a pilot project will begin as a follow-up. Although it is not yet clear where the first National Cricket Academy branch will be set up, Hassan mentioned Khulna and Rajshahi, the proven breeding grounds of Bangladesh’s top cricketers in the last two decades, as examples.

“We have been talking about regional cricket associations for a long time,” Hassan said. “The final proposal will be with us within two weeks after which we will approve it. I hope that all functions of the regional cricket associations can commence within a month.

“The final proposal hasn’t been made because they want to add regional academies. We want regional academies along with the regional cricket associations. If there are academies in Khulna and Rajshahi then the pressure will be less on Dhaka. Now all the pressure is on Dhaka. This way, we are hoping that there will be many new players emerging for those regions.”

Hassan’s announcement, while ambitious, is the hurry-up that the board has long needed. The major hitch over the past two decades has been the control Dhaka’s clubs have had over the BCB. Presently, the constitution itself is shaped to give Dhaka clubs more representation than the rest of the country.

Given the importance placed on Dhaka’s clubs, cricketers, coaches and officials keep waiting for direction, finance and resources from BCB headquarters although a vast majority of cricketers is originally from outside the capital.