The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is planning to introduce a ‘six-month review’ clause in the central contracts for the players this year. The national selection panel made the recommendation to the board recently to review contracted players after every six months, to evaluate their progress and create a competitive atmosphere among the cricketers. The BCB Cricket Operation Chairman, Jalal Yunus, confirmed the news in an interview on Monday, stating that the clause will be included in the central contracts and will be up for approval in the next board meeting.
However, it is not yet decided whether the BCB will scrap the contract of any player found performing below par. The BCB’s chief selector, Minhajul Abedin, clarified that introducing the review clause does not imply that the duration of the national contract will be anything less than one year. He added that the underperformers might have to face the music at some point for not living up to the expectations.
“This initiative is likely to keep everyone on their toes considering they will be aware that the fingers will be pointed at them if they fail to deliver and come up with a below-par performance for a period of six months,” said Minhajul.
The list of BCB’s centrally contracted cricketers for 2023 will be made public after the board meeting where BCB cricket operations will take the required approval to put the new law in place for centrally-contracted cricketers. It is understood that the BCB is planning to trim the 21-member list that was in place last year to 18 or 19 and it would largely depend on how the board would accommodate Mahmudullah in the list. Some players like Mohammad Naim, Shadman Islam, and Mahmudul Hasan Joy failed to make the cut while Mahedi Hasan’s fate is hanging in the balance. New players Zakir Hasan and Hasan Mahmud are likely to be awarded a contract.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Cricket Board announced on Monday that former national physio Julian Calefato has been named director of their recovery facility. Calefato joined the Bangladesh squad as a physio in 2019 but opted to leave in November 2021 due to family obligations.
BCB president Nazmul Hasan previously said that the BCB intends to establish a rehabilitation facility to oversee the rehab programme for injured cricketers in order to assist them recover from their ailments, and the hiring of Calefeto is the first move in that direction.
