First division clubs unhappy over league schedule

Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis (CCDM) on Sunday announced that the next edition of the First Division Cricket League will begin on November 18, however, many of the participating clubs are unhappy with CCDM's announcement and as their demand of deferring the league was ignored.

CCDM held a meeting with 20 first division clubs on October 22, which, barring three, the other outfits attended.

The CCDM relayed that this year's first division league would begin in early November, reversing the recent trend of holding the third division league first.

According to first division outfit Amber Sporting Club's cricket secretary Ziaur Rahman Topu, most clubs disagreed with the proposed schedule in the meeting.

"We said that our league ended in March and asked how can we play again in the first week of November. Majority of the clubs were not in agreement," he said.

"Later Faruque [Ahmed, BCB vice-president] bhai showed up in the meeting and said it was the board's decision. I said, 'why did you call us to the meeting since you could have just notified us by a letter? Since you won't listen to us, why call the 20 clubs and why all this preparation?'," he said, adding he stormed out of the meeting after that.

However, CCDM chairman Adnan Rahman Dipon claimed that majority of the clubs had agreed to play the league in the proposed schedule.

"Verbally, maximum clubs wanted to play. Officially, they should send a letter because it's the board's decision, I am just a subcommittee chairman," he said.

Topu claimed that only clubs that have directorship in the board are willing to compete and the other teams had proposed the December-January window.

He further said that around 45 clubs across divisions are going to send a letter to Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Aminul Islam Bulbul ahead of the first division league's players' transfer window on November 5 and 6.