Taijul, Sunny handed national contracts

Taijul Islam, Al-Amin Hossain and Arafat Sunny have been handed national contracts for 2015, while Imrul Kayes and Shafiul Islam have also returned to Bangladesh's list of contracted players, having missed out in 2014.

Taijul and Sunny won the contracts following a productive first year in international cricket in which they contributed 48 wickets together, while Al-Amin was included as he became a dependable bowler for the team in the limited-overs formats.

Abdur Razzak missed out on a contract for the first time in 10 years, while Sohag Gazi was also omitted since he had been banned from bowling in international matches for having an illegal action. Robiul Islam's injury concerns - he played just two Tests in 2014 - meant that he too was without a contract.

BCB president Nazmul Hassan confirmed that the players would not be getting a salary bump, but said the board had increased the number of contracted players from 12 in 2014 to 14 this year.

Nazmul added that the board had named Khaled Mahmud, the former Bangladesh captain and one of the current BCB directors, as the team manager in the World Cup. He also clarified that the BCB would not be sending two extra bowlers with the Bangladesh squad for their two-week camp in Brisbane.

Meanwhile, in a major move, Naimur Rahman, Bangladesh's first Test captain and now a member of parliament, replaced Akram Khan as the BCB's cricket operations committee chairman. Akram will now head the BCB's tournament committee. "I have been working as an MP for more than a year, and there too I have done overtime. In this new role I will also have to work overtime," Naimur said.

Enayet Hossain Siraj, who was the cricket operations chairman before Akram, was named the new head of the working committee.

Six ex-cricketers - Jahangir Shah, ASM Faruque, Shafiqul Haque, Mainul Haque, Ishtiaq Ahmed and Athar Ali Khan - were named in the BCB's wishlist to be a part of the newly formed technical committee.

The board also approved the long-term strategic plan, developed by Ross Turner, which aims to improve the team's Test ranking and also develop the game in the country at the grassroots level. "He will now have to continuously monitor it and update us," Nazmul said.