A Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) official yesterday said that the upcoming season of the first-class competition Bangladesh Cricket League (BCL) might get deferred due to the packed schedule of the national team, A team and High-Performance Unit in May.

The BCB initially planned to hold the next edition of BCL, which is usually held in November-December, in May but is now likely to postpone it as majority of the country's top players will be engaged in different series at the same time.

"We planned the tournament [BCL] as these tours weren't finalised before. But now we have called a meeting [to reschedule the event]," Akram Khan, BCB's tournament committee chairman, told The Daily Star yesterday.

"We will sit with the selectors as well. If we don't get sufficient players, the tournament can be delayed. We want our top players to participate in the league," he added.

New Zealand A team will arrive in Bangladesh on May 1 to play three one-dayers and two four-day matches against their Bangladeshi counterparts between May 5 and 24. The series was initially scheduled to take place in September last year, but the touring side postponed the series due to travel restrictions following the ouster of the Awami League regime.

Meanwhile, South Africa's Emerging Team are also scheduled to arrive here in early May to play three one-dayers and two four-day matches against the HP unit while the Tigers have a white-ball away series against Pakistan in the same month where they will play three ODIs and three T20Is.

"We will have a jam-packed schedule from May 1. I see it as an opportunity for our players," chief selector Gazi Ashraf Hossain Lipu told The Daily Star.

"There were doubts regarding some of these series. Due to the non-availability of the South African team, the HP Unit had to compromise with the schedule and host the series at this time. Otherwise, they might not have been able to play the series," he concluded.