DHAKA: BCB president Nazmul Hassan has said that Bangladesh will play against India, England and Australia in the next two years. He hopes to sign the Members Participation Agreements (MPA) by February 8 with the three countries to confirm the tours.
"We will be in a better position than others," Nazmul said. "We haven`t been to India in 14 years. We will go there to play Tests, they will come here too. We will go to England; Australia will come here."
The statement was followed by a round of applause from the BCB directors and councillors who were at the press conference room in Mirpur.
Hassan continued by saying that Test cricket was his main concern, and that the three boards in question had asked the BCB for a slot, which will be sent within the next three days. He believes that the MPA will help ensure teams don`t pull out of Tests when they have earlier committed to a number of matches.
"Our main issues were playing Tests. How we are going to solve this? Some of them gave dates, whether we will go or they`ll come. We hope to sign them by February 8. They asked us for our time. We will let them know our possible slots in the next three days. One thing is for sure, there will be more cricket. Within two years, we hope to play against everyone.
"FTP didn`t have a legal basis. Now, there will be a Members Participation Agreement, which is enforceable by law, despite what anyone says or does now. What they are trying to say is that [they will be protected], for example, if a team wants to play just two Tests when they were supposed to play five. Then the TV broadcasters will take me to court for not playing five Tests. The MPA will come into force now to stop this."
Hassan rejected PCB chief Zaka Ashraf`s claim that four boards - BCB, PCB, SLC and CSA - were going to ask for a delay on the draft proposals becoming resolutions. He added that since the ICC press release had been sent out with the phrase "unanimous support", all nations were in agreement.
"We were not in any alliance. I said in the meeting that if my trouble doesn`t go away, I am not with anyone. If the trouble goes away, I am with everyone. This was my strategy. We have also asked for time, like the other three. We have opposed on a specific point.
"It is unanimous by all ten [members]. It is a press release; nobody has objected to that. We gave our objection to remove this thing [the proposed two-tier system]."
Hassan said that due to news in the Bangladesh media after BCB`s January 23 meeting that the board directors would support the Big Three, he had trouble convincing the ICC board members that he was going to debate some of the proposals.
He confirmed that there was indeed a vote among the BCB directors at that meeting, but on whether Bangladesh will side with the majority in the ICC meeting or not. Eight votes are required by the ICC to pass a special resolution like the one proposed by the Big Three.
"There was voting on one aspect. If, for instance, in the ICC meeting seven votes go in favour of the draft proposal, and two go against, whether we should still vote to pass the resolution or not. What should we do in that situation? The directors raised their hands, but I didn`t count it. The ones who raised their hands said that I should do what I feel is best for the country. Three of the directors said I should oppose."
Source: espncricinfo.com
BDST: 0932 HRS, JAN 31, 2014
