Dhaka – The start of the National Cricket League (NCL) 2019 was rescheduled again as the event will now commence on October 10, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) said on Monday. The tournament committee of BCB held a meeting today and after that, BCB CEO Nizam Uddin Chowdhury confirmed that the most prestigious First-class cricket event of the country will begin on October 10.
“We’ve decided to start the NCL from October 10. Most of the national players will participate in this edition of the NCL. They’ll play at least first two rounds of the league before the tour of India in November,” Nizam told the media.
The BCB set a fitness bar for the players who are interested to play in NCL as they have to score at least 11 in the beep test in order to get selected in a team of the NCL.
“We’ve decided to set a fitness bar for the players who are willing to play in the NCL. Despite this, if the selectors consider any player for a team with a lower level of fitness, they can do it,” Nizam added.
Earlier, some senior cricketers have expressed their concerns to score 11 or more in beep test as they do not get the best quality of practice facilities because of being out of the national setup.
The NCL 2019 will be played across four venues of Dhaka, Narayanganj, Rajshahi and Khulna.The BCB CEO said the match fee of this NCL will be increased. He, however, did not disclose the match fees in exact amount.
At the same time, the CEO confirmed that the quality of the wickets will be better this time. “We’ve discussed about the quality of the wickets. I hope we’ll be able to provide the best wickets this time.”UNB
