BCB increases Test-match fees by over 70%

The BCB has raised the match fees of Bangladesh's centrally contracted players after three years, with the highest jump given to Test fees. In the 2020 calendar year, a player will earn BDT 600,000 (approximately $7,000 approx) per Test, which is a rise of more than 70% from their BDT 350,000 ($4,000 approx) from 2017 and 2019.

The rise in Test match fees comes after a poor year in the longest format, when Bangladesh lost all five matches to New Zealand, Afghanistan and India. But the BCB has put emphasis on their performance in Tests in light of the World Test Championship, which has already increased the number of Tests Bangladesh play in the next two years.

Match fees for ODIs and T20Is have also increased significantly from the previous three years. For each ODI, a player will get BDT 300,000 ($3,500 approx) compared to the previous BDT 200,000 ($2,300 approx), while the match fees for T20Is have increased from BDT 125,000 ($1,400 approx) to BDT 200,000 ($2,300 approx).

BCB president Nazmul Hassan, after the board meeting on Sunday, said that they will also reconsider the number of centrally contracted players. During the players' strike last year, the cricketers had demanded that the number should be 30. They had also pointed out that their salary or match fee hadn't increased since 2017.

"We will again discuss the number of players on January 15. We want there to be some more new guys who have performed recently," said Hassan.

He also said that Mashrafe Mortaza, Bangladesh's ODI captain, had asked the board to not given him a central contract. "Mashrafe Mortaza has asked us not to keep him in the central contract [list]. He will continue playing but he wants someone new to get a place among the contracted players," Hassan said. "We have accepted it."