More than 25 years after Bangladesh made its Test cricket debut, the country’s cricket system is still widely viewed as overly centralised. With the aim of addressing this issue, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) organised the first-ever “Bangladesh Cricket Conference” last Sunday. On the opening day of the two-day event, around 250 participants—including cricket coaches, councillors, women entrepreneurs’ representatives and sports officials from all eight divisions and 64 districts—took part in discussions on decentralisation and grassroots development.
At the end of the first day, BCB President Aminul Islam Bulbul told a press conference that the board would formally celebrate the 25th anniversary of Bangladesh’s Test debut with journalists before the closing-day briefing. However, events on the following day unfolded quite differently.
Yesterday at 4:00 pm, the BCB invited sports journalists to a hotel in Dhaka for a cake-cutting ceremony marking 25 years of Bangladesh’s Test cricket journey. Despite waiting for more than an hour past the scheduled time, journalists received no briefing or official communication from the board. Instead, they were kept outside the venue while BCB officials went ahead and cut the cake inside.
This incident followed a similar experience the previous day, when board officials arrived around half an hour late for the scheduled press conference after the conference sessions ended. After facing such treatment for two consecutive days, sports journalists present at the venue collectively announced a boycott of the press conference in protest.
Journalists expressed frustration, saying that the behaviour reflected a lack of professionalism and respect towards the media. They noted that the 25th anniversary of Bangladesh’s Test debut is a major milestone in the country’s sporting history, and that the national cricket board should have ensured proper coordination and engagement with the press.
The boycott highlighted growing concerns among journalists about communication gaps and organisational shortcomings within the BCB, particularly during high-profile events intended to showcase the progress and future vision of Bangladesh cricket.
GLIVE/TSN