Louis van Gaal claims unsettled goalkeeper David De Gea will not be sold to Real Madrid before the transfer window closes. De Gea was once again be left out of the matchday squad on Saturday
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BANGLADESH UNDER-19s INTO SAFF SEMIS
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GEMCON BEAT BANDO TO WEAR CORPORATE CROWN
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GOING NOWHERE
SUNDAY, AUGUST 23, 2015
BARCA TRAVEL TO BILBAO DEMONS ON OPENING DAY
National camp begins amid several absences n Minhaz Uddin Khan
Mahmudullah lifts himself using the pull up bar in the BCB Academy gymnasium as his teammates look on during the first day of the national strength and conditioning camp at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK
Nazmul chalks out uncomplicated BPL n Minhaz Uddin Khan Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hassan is doing everything in his jurisdiction to make sure that the third Bangladesh Premier League, planned in November, does not resemble the controversial first two editions. And in order to keep the players’ payment irregularities from surfacing again, Nazmul revealed that the companies submitting the “Expression of Interest” will also need to submit a bank-guarantee and pay-order. Flora Limited, previous owners of the Rangpur Raiders, cleared their dues with the board as the number of interested buyers for the upcoming season went up to 12. “The other old franchises can also submit their EOI but for that they will need to clear the dues by this Thursday,” said Nazmul after a meeting with the BPL governing council at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday. According to the BCB chief, five of the old franchise owners owe approximately Tk 36 crores 81 lacs with Khulna Royals owing highest 8.19 crores. This time around, BCB will ask for Tk 5.5
crores – 4.5 crores in bank guarantee and one crore as pay order – in the bank before selling a team.
Teams Khulna Royals
Outstanding (Taka) 8.19 crores
Sylhet Royals
8.5 crores
Chittagong Kings
7.45 crores
Barisal Burners Duronto Rajshahi
6.5 crores 6.09 crores
“The guarantee money will cover both the players and participation fee. We won’t have to worry about the payment any more after that and I believe this will eliminate all the irregularities that we saw in the first two seasons of the tournament,” said the BCB president. He even hinted of increasing the number of teams in the tournament if needed. “In case the number of eligible parties are more than the number of teams in the tournament, we might decide to increase the number of teams. This can be eight or even 10.” “What we have experienced from the first
two editions of BPL is that few franchises took this as a business. We don’t want those kind of owners. We will check the background of the owners and their interest in the game before awarding them a team. The owners will have to have the tendency of contributing for Bangladesh cricket,” said Nazmul. BCB realised that the previous payment structure was never realistic in the cricket market in Bangladesh. In order to omit the chaos with regards to players’ payment, both domestic and international, the BCB has decided to adopt the “Players by Choice” system as opposed to the traditional auction. “I have already asked the concerned parties to prepare categories for the players, both domestic and international. There will be three categories – A, B and C. The Players by Choice system will allow us to make sure that all the teams are balanced equally,” said Nazmul. Four foreign cricketers will be allowed per side in accordance with the Players by Choice system. However, a franchise can also register an overseas player through personal arrangements but in that case the BCB will not be liable for the cricketer’s payment issues, if any.l
Following an 18-day break, the Bangladesh cricketers got back to business at Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday. The 21 leading cricketers of the country reported to national strength and conditioning coach Mario Villavarayan and will work towards enhancing their mental and physical strength over the next few weeks. The camp was organised to get the cricketers ready for both domestic and international cricket in the next six months. “Fitness test, that’s all purpose of testing and achieving. We got four weeks to work with them and these four weeks are important for going forward because six months of games is coming up. These four weeks are very important for the next six months,” Villavarayan told the media at SBNS yesterday. Day one of the conditioning camp was marked with a gym session followed by a bleep test and one round of football game. Test captain Mushfiqur Rahim, ODI and Twenty20 skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza, all-rounders Shakib al Hasan and Sabbir Rahman, top-order batsman Rony Talukdar and paceman Abul Hasan were absent yesterday. Mushfiq, who is suffering from fever, is on sick leave while Mashrafe and Shakib are out of the country. Mashrafe is expected to return to the capital this Tuesday while Shakib is all set to come back this Thursday. Opening batsman Tamim Iqbal reported for the camp on time but underwent a different routine as opposed to the bleep test. The hard-hitting southpaw was seen running around the centre field of SBNS alone under the supervision of Villavarayan. “He did extra. He is running separately. He is not going to do bleep test. He did test running,” said Villavarayan. The Sri Lanka-born coach said Tamim performed a separate routine due to an injury in his knee. Villavarayan also informed that he is concerned with the fitness of national spinner Sohag Gazi. “[Gazi] was away from cricket for a long time. Hopefully he will work with us for the next four or six weeks and try to take up his fitness level,” said Villavarayan. The cricketers will continue with their physical training routine till September 5. It is expected that national head coach Chandika Hathurusingha will then join the camp and make the cricketers work on their skill development. The Tigers’ upcoming assignment is at home against Australia this October. The Aussies are scheduled to arrive on September 28 for two Test matches, beginning on October 9 at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong. The second and final Test will get underway in Mirpur on October 17.l