The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has announced a major increase in domestic match fees and plans to significantly upgrade player facilities at its academy following a working committee meeting on Thursday.
At a press conference at the media centre of Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur, BCB president Tamim Iqbal announced the increase in match fees.
Men’s cricketers will now receive Tk 150,000 for a first-class match, Tk 100,000 for a List A match and Tk 80,000 for a T20. Women’s players will receive Tk 40,000 for a four-day match, Tk 30,000 for a one-day match and Tk 20,000 for a T20.
Tamim said, “Players used to receive Tk 70,000 for a first-class match. I raised it to Tk 100,000 when I joined the ad hoc committee, but no match has been played since. From now on, the first-class fee will be Tk 150,000, while List A and T20 fees will be Tk 100,000 and Tk 80,000 respectively.”
The move comes as the Tamim -led board seeks to provide greater financial support to domestic cricketers following the postponement of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), which is a major source of income for many players.
“We are here to serve the cricketers. There is no question of our relationship with the players becoming bad. Rather, it needs to become better. Because the players have been disrespected many times. I don’t need to say anything new about that,” Tamim told reporters.
Emphasising his commitment to the players, Tamim said his own experience as a cricketer had helped him understand their needs.
“I was a cricketer myself and played with them. Allah has given me the ability to understand their good and bad sides to some extent. Whatever I need to do for them, I will do,” he said.
Alongside the increase in match fees, the BCB is planning a significant upgrade of player facilities at its academy, including a 110-metre athletics track, new gym, swimming pool, recovery centre and 12 centre wickets.
Tamim said the facility upgrade was necessary because Bangladesh remains well behind where it should be in terms of cricket infrastructure.
“I honestly feel that we lag a lot when it comes to facilities. As far as cricket facilities are concerned, we are far behind where we should be. So, we want to build whatever facilities we can, gradually and step by step,” he said.
Explaining the proposed athletics track, Tamim said it would allow cricketers to continue their running and sprint work when the cricket ground is unavailable or affected by rain.
“Why a 110-metre athletics track? Because most of the running and fitness work our cricketers do is in a straight line. You have often seen us on the field, running straight to a point, touching it and coming back,” he said.
The BCB president said the idea was inspired by a recent visit to India’s Centre of Excellence, where he saw a similar facility being used for player fitness work.
“Recently, when I went to India to visit their Centre of Excellence, they had exactly this facility: a three-lane, 120-metre straight athletics track. So, even when it rains, you can continue your running and sprint work. Often, you cannot run on the field after rain because it becomes muddy or there are other problems. The ground is also not always available. But on an athletics track, you can do running, sprints and everything else,” he added.
The BCB is hoping to have the new swimming pool and gym ready by November, while the academy ground is also expected to get 12 centre wickets.
“I hope by November the swimming pool and the new gym will be ready. So, you will have a very top-class gym, a good swimming pool, recovery centre and athletics track,” Tamim said.
The board is also assessing whether existing floodlights can be relocated to the academy and is considering renovating the academy building, which Tamim said is currently not in particularly good condition.
Tamim added that the proposals would eventually be placed before the board for approval, although some player-focused initiatives are already being pursued.
“Finally, when everything comes together, we will take it to the board, and the board will obviously decide whether to approve or reject them. But there are certain things we are going to do. This is about improving facilities,” he said.
Despite the BPL being a men’s franchise tournament, Tamim said the board’s player welfare plans would cover both men’s and women’s cricket.
“I could have come here today, talked only about the men and then left. The BPL is for the men, after all. But we are worried about the cricketers and we will look after them. It is both men’s and women’s cricket,” he said.
