No dissent allowed

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Tuesday closed an extraordinary chapter of embarrassment with the strongest possible signal that it would go the distance to bring the perpetrators to the book.

Embarrassed and exposed to the watching world after two incidents involving two second-division matches where one bowler conceded 69 runs off seven deliveries and another bowler conceded 92 runs off four balls the following day -- something the cricket world noticed with a lot of amusement and curiosity -- the BCB got its acts together and punished those culprits and their promoters in the strongest possible terms. The two bowlers were banned for 10 years each. The two clubs they represented have been stripped of their affiliation with the board. 

While recommending the punishment the three-member committee “concluded that both the incidents were pre-planned and deliberate with the intention of damaging the image of the BCB at home and abroad especially at a time when Bangladesh cricket was going through the most encouraging phase in its history.”

Interesting observation indeed and if those acts were 'pre-planned and deliberate with the intention of damaging Bangladesh cricket' then the two bowlers and their promoters might face possible sedition charges. After all they betrayed the emotions of a cricket-crazy nation.

Sujon Mahmud of Lalmatia Club, the bowler who gave away 92 runs, and Tasnim Hasan of Fear Fighter Sporting Club -- who conceded 69 off seven balls -- are not sure what is coming next. But one thing has already been guaranteed; their careers as cricketers are over.

It is always easy to punish a Sujon or a Tasnim because the established world will not rally behind them or the protest they manfully demonstrated against all odds. The committee has certainly asked them why they bowled so many wides and no balls and it has also got the answers.

Unfortunately however, there is nothing in the recommendation or in the observation that they bowled badly as a mark of protest against biased umpiring -- an evil practice which has been growing like an epidemic especially in the lower tier of the Dhaka league.

It is a badly-kept secret that matches in Second Division, Third Division or in First Division are settled outside the playing field. A vested group in the club circle actually decides who to be promoted or relegated at the start of the season. And when it comes to the election year of the board this evil practice gets more open and ferocious with the most important councillorships at stake.

Although the umpires committee is independent and has the authority to appoint its panel of umpires, the committee simply caves in to the pressure of that vested group -- powerful even in the board. The BCB will possibly go for elections later this year or early next year. And in that election Dhaka clubs will have a major say in electing the board of directors. And that framework has already been drawn out at the cost of grassroots cricket where a Sujon is a victim for his defiance.

Any judgement should ideally seek to correct or prevent similar mistakes in the future. However, what this judgement seems to have done is punish the dissenters who were protesting a corrupt practice, while allowing the corrupt practice itself to carry on unfettered.