NCL not a ‘picnic league’

National selector Abdur Razzak was optimistic about getting more sporting wickets in the upcoming National Cricket League (NCL), which will be held in both four-day and T20 formats next month.

"I think NCL is the best tournament in Bangladesh. Changes have been made to the surfaces. It will be changed more in the coming days," Razzak told reporters in Mirpur yesterday after the selectors met the participating team captains, coaches and players at the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) office.

During the meeting, selectors and the eight participating teams narrowed their respective squads to 20-25 members from a preliminary list of 30 members.

They also talked about improving the tournament with enhanced facilities in order to make the tournament more competitive.

The four-day version of NCL will get underway on October 15, followed by NCL T20 which is expected to start in December.

This year, BCB has scrapped the two-tier league system as both four-day and T20 tournaments will be held in a single league format.

"It's obviously a great opportunity. If we get the chance, we will try to do well. And if we do, we will get chance in the national team in future," said Dhaka Metro batter Shadman Islam.

Meanwhile, Shadman's Dhaka Metro teammate Mohammad Naim expects better facilities, wickets, and outfield in order to score big runs in the tournament.

"We expect more quality wickets in domestic matches. We need to improve ground facilities and drainage system. If you expect a player to score 200-300 runs then good wickets and outfield are needed. If we get good facilities in domestic cricket, we will do better in Test cricket as well," Naim said.

Meanwhile, local coach Mizanur Rahman Babul dismissed the notion that NCL is a 'picnic league', urging fans to come to the field to watch the competitiveness of the tournament.

"Those who raise these questions, I have doubt that they watch these matches from the field. I regularly hear that NCL is a picnic league. I'm actually involved in this NCL. I know it very well that whether it's a picnic league or not," Babul said.

"I request them all who raise such question to go to the field and watch the matches. Most of our matches are interrupted by rain. If rain doesn't cause much damage, it will be a good tournament," he added.

Babul also stressed increasing the number of grounds in the country.

"We don't have such grounds where we can have the play continue in between rain breaks. We need more venues to hold these matches so that the four-day matches can be completed. I can say that NCL is a very good tournament and this is the only red-ball tournament which our players play to get selected for the national team.

"Today, we talked about how to make the tournament better and also talked about the shortcomings of the previous tournaments so that we can develop it day by day," he concluded.