DHAKA, May 10, 2020 (BSS)-The resumption of Bangladesh’s cricket season
would largely depend on how quickly the International Cricket Council (ICC)
sets the health protocol for players in post Covid-19.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury said the ICC
is in touch with its member country to set a post pandemic playing protocol,
which could be unfolded within two or three weeks.
But the BCB top brass ruled out any possibility of restarting country’s
cricket in quick fashion, as Cricketers Welfare Association of Bangladesh
(CWAB) urged to restart Dhaka Premier League (DPL) after Eid-ul-Fitr,
considering the players sufferings and government’s decision to ease the
lockdown.
Chowdhury said they firstly would have to observe how the ICC-set protocol
works in the other countries, who are ready to resume cricket.
“The BCB is constantly in touch with the ICC In this regard [to how the
cricket can start]. We along with other member countries working with the ICC
to set a protocol for the cricketers in the cricket ground,” The BCB CEO told
the BSS today.
“There are many things involved in the protocol like how the cricketers
would behave in the ground, how they would abide by the health guideline and
others. I think the protocol will be ready within two or three weeks.”
“But that doesn’t mean we’ll restart cricket directly once the protocol is
set. We will wait and see as to how the protocol works in other countries.
There are currently some countries who are ready to start the cricket in
their country. Definitely they will execute the ICC protocol and we’ll get
the idea then how it works. Afterwards we’ll think about restarting the
cricket,” Chowdhury remarked.
The BCB CEO said the government’s permission to ease the lockdown only
came to protect the country’s economy as they opened the factory and garments
in limited scale. He said the Government’s permission has nothing to do with
the cricket.
“Government’s permission to ease the lockdown came only to protect the
country’s economy. You can’t relate cricket here. Cricket will resume here
only when ICC and we think everything is safe for the players. The players
however, I know, want to play cricket for the money because for most of them
the DPL is the only earning source. We feel for that but the safety is main
issue here and for this, we need to follow the ICC protocol,” Chowdhury
disclosed.
“We can’t set even a tentative date for the cricket’s resumption. You
don’t know when everything will come under control. You even don’t know
whether everything will be normal like the past. So it’s better to wait and
see and follow the ICC protocol, which we’ll abide by as a member country,”
he concluded.