The dark arts of domestic cricket

92 runs scored off four balls; it is not a cricket fantasy but was in fact a true story of Bangladesh cricket.

Sujon Mahmud was the bowler who bowled 13 wides and three no-balls to make sure Axiom Cricketers overtook the score of 88 runs in four balls and win the match by 10 wickets against Lalmatia Club without any difficulties under the scorching heat.

What however happened at the City Club ground during yesterday's Dhaka Second Division Cricket League match was not something that can be explained by cricket's most popular saying: anything can happen in cricket. Rather, these weird statistics was born out of Lalmatia's frustration when they, like many other clubs, felt helpless in the face of continuous controversial umpiring -- an alarming practice that has been a source of silent decay at the grassroots level of Bangladesh cricket.

It was not a horror story but there were some fingers that have been haunting domestic cricket as apparently their owners stand behind the stumps only to serve the purpose of certain groups, alleged many clubs officials on the condition of anonymity.

When contacted a Lalmatia Club official reacted: “Brother, when we had nothing to do against such controversial umpiring, we did this peculiar thing. We simply did it out of frustration. I just request everybody to go through the scorecards of the league and they will know what is actually happening.”

“Can you imagine, during the match an LBW decision was changed to a caught-behind decision in the official scorecard. There are some common faces like [umpires] Shamsur Rahman and Azizul Bari Babu who conducted some particular clubs' matches and either gave LBW decisions or caught-behind decisions even if the ball passed miles away from the batsman,” informed another club official.

Shamsur and Babu were the umpires in yesterday's peculiar affair and they also officiated last Sunday's match between Axiom Cricketers and Matuail Cricket Academy, who were bundled out for 34 runs in seven overs in chase of 234 runs, allegedly through controversial umpiring.

“From the very beginning there was an agenda with eight teams because of eight votes [top eight second-division teams become eligible to vote in next BCB election as councilors] and now they have a mission to make Axiom and Dhaka Cricket Academy champions and runners-up so that they can qualify to the first division league. And you will get the answer if you look at the names running the clubs,” another aggrieved club official said.

It seems that there is no end to partial and controversial umpiring in the domestic circuit as there were also allegations against certain clubs in the First Division Cricket League and before that there was news in the media that a third division cricket league match was allotted to the waterlogged ground of Fatullah Outer Stadium.

In the lower tier there has been chaos for a long time as for the last two seasons there was no third division qualifying round matches as nobody showed an interest to pay the entry fee of Tk 5 lakh except Axiom and Dhaka Cricket Academy. In the next two years a meteoric rise has seen these two clubs on the cusp of first-division qualification.

There is also no exception in the highest flight as Abahani's Premier Cricket League triumph last season was marred by reported controversial umpiring.

“It looks like we are living in Hirak Rajar Deshe,” quipped an official.

There was however an end of the misery in Satyajit Ray's Hirak Rajar Deshe but will there be an end to this misery afflicting Bangladesh cricket's domestic scene?

Everybody will however be looking to the Dhaka Premier Cricket League, which begins today, to see whether the alleged corruption continues or some good sense prevails in the greater interest of the game.