BCB to enforce old rules

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) plans to become more strict when it comes to making the national team players participate in domestic first-class competitions as a prerequisite to representing the country on the international stage, informed the chairman of the BCB media committee Jalal Younus yesterday.

There have been several instances in the past where national cricketers skipped domestic tournaments citing personal obligations following their international commitments.

"We have got a long-standing policy that players will not be considered for the national team unless they play domestic first-class cricket. But whenever it comes to playing the National Cricket League or other first-class competitions, our players cite family obligations or other pretexts to avoid it," Jalal informed the media yesterday.

"So far we have shown a soft attitude towards it. But now we will follow the policy strictly. Because we have noticed that a few players are not interested in playing Test cricket either," he added.

This issue was raised after the Tigers' recent debacle in a two-match Test series defeat against West Indies, where the hosts bundled out Bangladesh for their lowest ever Test score of 43 runs in Antigua during the first innings of the first Test.

Jalal's comments came two days after BCB president Nazmul Hassan revealed that star players Shakib Al Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman and Rubel Hossain were reluctant to play Test cricket.

"He [Shakib] does not want to play Test cricket. Mustafiz [Mustafizur Rahman] also does not want to play Test cricket," Hassan told reporters on Friday.