BCB increases match fees for domestic cricket

Bangladesh Cricket Board president Tamim Iqbal announced on Thursday (September 3) that they have decided to increase cricketers' match fees. Earlier, reported that the players were getting insecure after the BCB decided to postpone the forthcoming edition of the Bangladesh Premier League, the country’s lone franchise-based T20 tournament.

A segment of cricketers did not hesitate to voice their dissatisfaction with the high-ranking members of the Cricketers Welfare Association who were handling the situation with the board on their behalf.

On Thursday, the BCB's working committee met at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium before Tamim called an impromptu press conference to announce a significant increase in domestic cricket match fees across formats.

Men's cricketers will receive Tk 1.5 lakh, up from Tk 70,000, for each first-class match under the new match-fee structure. When Tamim took over as the head of the BCB ad-hoc committee, he had already increased the fee to Tk 1 lakh.

The List A match fee has also been doubled, with players set to receive Tk 1 lakh per match, up from Tk 50,000. From Tk 40,000, the domestic T20 match fee has been increased to Tk 80,000. The match fee for a women’s four-day match has been increased from Tk 20,000 to Tk 40,000. T

he fee for T20 matches has increased from Tk 10,000 to Tk 20,000, while the fee for one-day matches has increased from Tk 15,000 to Tk 30,000. “So, one or two proposals had come from the players’ side.

Eventually, we both side - I don’t consider it two sides at all. There is only one side, that we are all one. Cricketers, the cricket board, directors, president - all are one,” Tamim told reporters after a meeting with the BCB working committee at the board headquarters in Mirpur.

"So, what we have all decided together is that, overall, in the BPL, you will see 50, 60, 65, 70 local cricketers play. But if you think about Bangladesh cricket, in first-class, List A, T20, there are plus or minus 150 to 200 cricketers involved," he said.

"Now, their well-being, in the Dhaka League, maybe financially, what it was two or three years ago, perhaps that has dropped. Plus, because the BPL will not take place this year, there can be a financial impact,” he said.

However, I never desired a one-year fix for the players. I wanted there to be a solution, my board wanted there to be a solution that would benefit them year after year after year," he said, adding that he believes the move will help cricketers remain financially stable simply by playing in BCB tournaments, as they will earn around Tk 3 lakh per month.

"Everything has increased by 100% or more. And what is the benefit of doing this? That is the question. Now, if a domestic cricketer plays the full season, including his salary, if my calculation is not wrong, plus or minus, they will earn Tk 35 lakh to Tk 40 lakh annually. If you divide that by 12, a player will have an income of more than Tk 3 lakh per month,” he explained.

"To run their family, I don’t think they will need to worry anymore. It is a significant step,” he said, adding that now he wants professionalism from the players.
In addition, Tamim stated that the BCB would not consider requests from players who fail the mandatory preseason fitness test.

"We will completely fulfill the demands made by the players, but they must also fulfill our demands. There will be no sacrifice when it comes to professionalism in first-class cricket, which is something that is discussed a lot sometimes among us," he pointed out.

"There will be no requests or anything similar listened to when someone fails the fitness test. The professionalism displayed by the players will also be closely monitored now that the board is providing everything and all financial support," he added.

It understands BCB is no longer interested in continuing to bear the full financial burden of tournaments such as the National Cricket League (NCL) T20, the Bangladesh Cricket League (BCL) four-day and one-day competitions.

Under the proposed model, the BCB plans to market the BCL four-day, BCL one-day and NCL T20 tournaments as a single commercial package. Each competition will feature six privately owned teams, with approximately 60 days allocated for the combined schedule.

However, a three-day NCL Second XI competition and the traditional eight-team NCL four-day championship will continue in their current format.