BCB director bemoans ‘loopholes’ in new FTP

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s concern over the participation of West Indies in an ODI tri-series with Zimbabwe and Pakistan has boiled over, with the BCB director Jalal Yunus saying that the system of organising bilateral series had “gone bad” since the ICC stopped getting involved in the Future Tours Programme.
The WICB confirmed on Sunday that the tri-series would be held before the September 30 2015 cut-off date to qualify for the 2017 Champions Trophy.
“I feel that the FTP that the ICC had was better,” Yunus said. “The system has gone bad from the day the ICC stopped doing the FTP and the matter has become a bilateral agreement. It has created a lot of opportunities and loopholes. I don’t support this. It is no longer a healthy competition,” he said.
Bangladesh are currently seventh with 93 points in the ICC ODI rankings. West Indies are five points behind at eighth and Pakistan ninth, but the latter have a five-match series against Sri Lanka from July 11.
Before their ODI series against India, Bangladesh knew they had to win two out of their six scheduled ODIs against India and South Africa. After they beat India in the first two ODIs, calculations from the ICC ODI rankings system confirmed that Bangladesh had qualified for the 2017 tournament. But the calculations took into consideration only the remaining matches in July to be played by Bangladesh and Pakistan.