BCB stalled?

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

BCB stalled?

A lot was expected when the tried and tested organisers took over the office of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), the richest sports body in the country, after a fervent election in November last year.

Despite coming from different panels they have gelled well to make many believe that these gentlemen are capable of getting the work done even at the highest level and boost up the activities on a fiercely competitive field, where Bangladesh have won more criticism than hearts.

It might be too early to say; three months on, where do we stand? But this time it is good enough to get the impression whether teamwork exists in the board to move forward with pragmatic plans. Unfortunately, there was hardly any evidence for what we can say this board is working together to speed up the activities to improve the standard of the game in the country.

Rather the whisper is all around that everything is stagnant. It seems that everybody is reluctant and in a mood to "let things happen".

The biggest challenge ahead for the game's governing body is to successfully hold the 2011 World Cup, which is undoubtedly, it's priority in the list but the high-ups have already admitted that they are lagging behind in their preparations.

In this particular case they might need government patronisation but how can one accept the fact, that the renewal of player's contract has yet to materialize though the last contact expired November last year, or the organisation has been running without the permanent CEO (chief executive officer) for last one year although there has been a plan of giving it a corporate shape.

Like it or hate it, in modern day cricket the success of anything depends on good governance and there is no doubt the board has a lot of good people working. But are we missing good professionals? Otherwise why has it failed to arrange a sponsor for the country's most coveted domestic competition, the Premier Division Cricket League? It was also hard to believe the way the board had arranged the Twenty20 tournament in a meaningless way when the latest version of the game is considered as a money-spinning competition.

One may disagree but the reality is that professionalism has taken a backseat ever since the departure of Zimbabwean CEO Macky Dudhia as the two-year tenure of Mahmudur Rahman saw a gradual decline of financial flow from domestic scene and it got worse with the absence of anyone at the important post.

After the 2005 election of the BCB the area that suffered most is development. And it only geared up for a short period of time when former cricketer Shakil Kasem tried to inject new blood into the activities of the most important department with his innovative ideas. Many may argue but Shakil was perhaps one of the few enlightened individuals in the post-Test era of Bangladesh cricket.

But the democratic practice saw the immature departure of a very energetic man who won many hearts during his short stint as a chairman of the development committee. He took his sad departure in his stride with a strong statement and it is fitting to recap his words: "I was a nightwatchman who could have perhaps scored a double hundred." This is perhaps a grey spot of democracy that an effervescent Kasem who was fit to fulfill the demand of modern day cricket became unfit in the battle of ballot.

These are some of so many other issues that could be raised but the main thing is that the present very knowledgeable people at the board has to put their heads together to look at these issues sooner than later as well as chalk out a long-term programme for which they will be remembered in the country's history of cricket.