Facilities of the grounds outside of Dhaka aren’t still well maintained
Collected
|| CF Correspondent ||
Even though the indoor facilities of the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium (SBNCS) in Dhaka have a tip-top position, these facilities outside of Dhaka are not in a good shape barring Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium (ZACS) in Chattagram.
The ZACS has a logical reason behind its poor training facilities because the indoor has been demolished a long time ago due to being constructed a connecting highway road towards Chattogram port.
The project implementing agency (JICA) is constructing another indoor stadium on the stadium premises with its own funds.
Jahurul Islam Omi, who has started training outdoors with a group of players before Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) allowed players to have individual outdoor practice at their four designated venues across the country.
“One of the 13 points of our movement was to ensure an improved system for practice as it is unsuitable for a Test playing country,” Jahurul Islam Omi told a Bengali daily.
In this exceptional case, the cricketers don’t have proper training facilities at the grounds outside of Dhaka.
Earlier, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on July 2 mentioned through a media release that eight venues all around the country are fully equipped for cricketers to have practice. But the real picture says a different story.
The indoor adjacent to Shaheed Kamruzzaman Stadium (SKS) in Rajshahi have so many problems like, when it rains, the ceiling leaks and water-falls. The old matters brought from Dhaka did not have the right glue.
Venue manager and former cricketer Saifullah Khan is able to comfort himself by thinking about the plight of another field indoor of Shaheed Chandu Stadium (SCS) in Bogura, which witnessed only one Test in 2006 so far.
“The situation is bad here, of course. But the indoor condition in Bogura is worse,” Saifullah Khan told a Bengali daily.
Due to the rain, clotted water and dirt created a bad smell which has covered the whole venue of Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium in Fatullah.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Nurul Hasan Sohan is also facing hassle in Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium (SANS) in Khulna while resuming the practice after a four-long-month-break.
“The indoor is not fully prepared. The condition of the bowling machine is very bad. It becomes too old. It doesn’t really work. It’s unsuitable for use,” Sohan said.
Only SBNS has proper indoor facilities to work on batting, which was meant to be in all four designated venues, which has been provided by BCB to restart the practice.
BCB chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury admitted the matter, stating that their repairing works had been delayed owing to the COVID-19.
“Of course, these need to be improved. It could have happened earlier. But it got late because of the pandemic,” Nizamuddin Chowdhury said.
Chowdhury also said that the National Sports Council (NSC) is the owner of the indoors who looks after the infrastructure, where BCB is just meant to see the decorations.
“National Sports Council is the owner of the indoors. It is their job to build the infrastructure. They have to look after things like water leaking from the roof. As a user, BCB only sees the decoration,” he added.
But the bowling machine is also part of that decoration, which cost around Tk. three-eight lakh because of this sort of lackings, Shahriar Nafees bought one for himself a couple of years ago without looking at the board anymore.
Cricket coach Nazmul Abedeen Fahim said that although Nafees had solved it for himself, others are still helpless.
“There is no doubt that we do not have enough bowling machines,” Nazmul Abedeen Fahim said.
