ICL and our cricket
Your reporter termed the 10 year ban on our players as "inevitable" and I agree, although I might add the word "regrettable". As you said in your editorial, the ICL is a reality that we cannot overlook. Rather than the predictable and petty reaction from the BCB to ban the players and do no more, a more considered reaction was desired.
First, it is a form of recognition to Bangladesh cricket that our players are attracting international attention and have the potential to earn up to, according also to your newspaper, $200,000 each. That's a reality which we also cannot overlook. Secondly, it gives them an opportunity for experience and exposure in a different competitive arena.
Potentially, it also exposes them to coaching styles and training regimes that will broaden their horizons. Lastly, if it were handled well, it would serve as a form of motivation to attract talented new players into Bangladeshi cricket, which would have been good for the game. Competition, whether on the playing fields during a match or in the board rooms to build team, is always good for a sport because it requires everyone to perform at their best. Many sports have players who compete in commercial arenas and then are welcomed and themselves feel honoured to play for their flag. Although this is not yet the custom in cricket, it is the future.
On the matter of the manner of their "abandoning ship", this I agree was just not cricket. Certainly, they should be disciplined and I agree fully with Jamie Siddons that they should be replaced without ado, however the matters should have been clearly separated as I have attempted to do in this letter.
It does no good to send such a jumbled and negative signal to our talented youngsters and it would have been desirable to keep the option of allowing the best of these players to play again one day for their country.
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