Cricketers concerned by newly introduced fitness test marking for NCL
Photo: Cricfrenzy
||CF Correspondent ||
Former national cricketers said on Thursday that lack of facilities will make it hard for them to pass the beep Test that will make them eligible to play in the National Cricket League.
Bangladesh Cricket Board recently have instructed that cricketers of the 30-member preliminary squad of respective divisions for the upcoming NCL will have to get 11 in the beep test if they want to be included in the 18-member squad that will take part in the NCL.
The new marking system is said to be the brainchild of High-Performance Unit head coach Simon Helmut as he made the proposal to the tournament committee for the competition, scheduled to start from October 7
Chief selector Minhajul Abedin had approved the idea and in the process, it was granted for execution.
Former national cricketers Ashraful said that they need to have training facilities to prepare them for the fitness test.
‘’A new mark is given for Beep test. It was 9 before and now it is 11. This is for us who are playing at a domestic level. Everyone is discussing among us. The ones who are playing the First class matches, if all of them had the same facilities then it would not be any issue to give 11 in the test. Last year I had 11.5. we don’t get those facilities. So we are out of national side, HP and under-23 face barriers to train alone,’’ Ashraful told reporters.
Former national cricketer Shuvagato Hom echoed the same sentiment.
‘’Of course it is tough. This is tough because, the players who are outside (the national team), we are not able to do the camps. We participate in a fitness training camp just before five to seven days before the league. I don’t know how much that will help. But we are trying to improve within that period,’’ said Shuvagoto.
Left-arm spinner Mosharaf Hossain welcomed the initiative but stated the importance of training facilities.
‘’This (Beep test) was very necessary to make the structure of domestic league more competitive. If the structure of a domestic league is not strong then a player can be comfortable at international level. So if a player can perform from domestic level, he can cope easily in that place (international). That’s why it was important. And for us, if we could have a one month conditioning camp then it would be much better. But we have no time left now,’’ said Mosharaf
‘’After the conditioning camp, if all the divisional team do the conditioning camp for another one month and then if they get examined- then it would help a lot because now we don’t have time, we will do it from the next year,’’ he said.
Former national cricketers Nasir Hossain said that he is not totally convinced with the fitness test marking system as he believe he had seen lot of team mates performing in the middle despite failing in the fitness test.
‘’Many get 12-13 even 14 in beep test but often they are not fit enough to play a match. Sometimes who get 8 to 11, they look more fit in the game. So I think beep test is just a test. You can understand your fitness level through this. But it is not like you can play only if you get (minimum) 11 otherwise you cannot,’’ said Nasir.
‘’Now, I give form eight to ten and there are some players who run more than me and they are good at beep test too but in the match I am more fit than others. Fitness is something different. Take National League for example, I have seen many bowlers who gave 7-8 in beep test but they bowled 15-16 overs continuously in National League. So beep test is just a test and match fitness is something else,’’ he concluded.
