BCB looking to give senior cricketers county stint

Shakib, Tamim and Mustafizur has played county cricket previously.

Steve Rhodes interacting with Bangladesh batsman. (BD 24)

In an effort to improve the overall game of their key players the Bangladesh Cricket Board is looking to give them an experience of county cricket. Newly appointed Bangladesh coach Steve Rhodes who is a renowned face in English county cricket has taken this initiative. 

"I have requested him [Rhodes] to lay the groundwork for this, when we had a meeting. He said that he will try. We will discuss again once the [training] camp starts on 27th," chief selector Minhajul Abedin told Cricbuzz.

"The players have nothing to do in the off-season. They could go and play there [in England] during that time. There is club cricket and many leagues in England."

Shakib Al Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman and Tamim Iqbal have previously had the chance of playing in county clubs though the latter two were only part of T20 cricket. Shakib played for Worcestershire under Rhodes while left-arm pace bowler Mustafizur and opener Tamim played for Sussex and Essex respectively in the T20 tournament.

"He [Rhodes] will have to consult with the agents, then they can arrange something. There are many agents who can make some arrangements once you provide them the bio data and then they can fix the clubs," Minhajul said.

"The players have to be interested. The likes of Sri Lanka are doing well because their players, or even the Indian players play there [in county circuit]. It is not likely to happen this year but definitely we will have to target the next season," he added.

"They have provincial leagues, similar to the ones we organize in Dhaka, Chittagong, or Khulna and in these leagues, every team can play one professional cricketer. We have to send one player to each of these places. The agents can link [the players] with Dublin, Scotland, or the whole United Kingdom."

"It is too early to say anything but definitely we would like to see some of our players playing in the county. We are looking forward to see how it eventually ends up as far participation of our national cricketers in the county is concerned."

 
 

By Anshuman Roy - 18 Aug, 2018

    Share Via