BCB approves Regional Cricket Associations aimed at decentralising the sport

The BCB approved the much-delayed regional cricket association (RCA) scheme, aimed to decentralise the game in the country. BCB president Nazmul Hassan said that the decision was made during Tuesday's Annual General Meeting where the board's constitution was amended. The country's divisional headquarters Dhaka, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Chattogram, Khulna, Rangpur, and Barisal will have RCAs while the one in Mymensingh, a newly formed division, will be run by Dhaka.

Board directors from each region will be working in the respective associations. The larger divisions will have 17 members while the smaller ones will have 11 members.

"We used to control everything from Dhaka but now are going into the divisions," Hassan said. "We had even lesser control at the district level. Once the RCA starts, we will work better there. I am hopeful that we can make it operational before the next board meeting. For now, the councilors have given BCB the responsibility to run the RCA."

The BCB constitution defines regional cricket associations as bodies to run cricket in the different administrative divisions of Bangladesh. It states the BCB should ensure that cricket is run across the country through the regional and district sports associations (DSA).

While the DSAs are formed and run by the government in all 64 districts of the country, the regional cricket bodies haven't seen the light of day despite being in the works for nearly two decades and being included in the board's constitution since 2012. Hassan had the RCA as his mandate since he first became BCB president in 2013.

There was even talk of making one of the divisions, Chattogram or Sylhet, into a pilot project of the RCA in 2015, but that too never materalised.

Over the last two decades, the only real connection between the BCB and the divisions and districts of the country have been either through representation of members in the form of councilors and directors, and through the age-group tournaments to find talented cricketers from across the country.

The other major decision in the BCB AGM was to increase the number of councilors from the Dhaka's clubs from 58 to 76. These councilors are among those involved in electing the 12 directors who serve on the board.

According to the 2013 amendment, the top six clubs in the points table of the Dhaka Premier League would have two councilor positions, while the other six DPL clubs had one each. Now all twelve DPL clubs would have one councillorship each.

In the lower leagues however, all clubs in the Dhaka First, Second and Third divisions will have one councilor each. Since 2013, only the clubs that qualified to the super league of the second and third division leagues would get councilor positions (12 in the case of second division and eight in the third division).

Meanwhile, the BCB also formed two additional committees. Bangladesh Tigers, a concept of a training squad to run all year round, has a separate body now, as does the Welfare committee.