BCB doubles match fees in domestic cricket

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has announced that match fees for all formats of domestic cricket tournaments will be doubled, as promised to the cricketers.

BCB president Tamim Iqbal made the announcement at a press conference in Mirpur today, Thursday.

After taking charge as chairman of the ad hoc committee, Tamim increased the match fee for first-class cricket from Tk 75,000 to Tk 100,000 in May. Six months later, it has been increased further to Tk 150,000.

In the one-day format of BCB tournaments (BCL and NCL), cricketers previously received Tk 50,000 as match fees. It has now been increased to Tk 100,000. The match fee for T20s has been increased from Tk 40,000 to Tk 80,000. However, Dhaka club cricket is excluded from this increase.

The BCB had earlier said it would not organise another poorly organised BPL that causes financial losses to the board. But not having the BPL also means reduced earnings for cricketers. The BCB's decision therefore created uncertainty among the players.

At a meeting with the Cricketers' Welfare Association of Bangladesh (CWAB) the day before yesterday, the BCB promised to increase match fees for the National Cricket League (NCL) and the Bangladesh Premier League (BCL). BCB president Tamim formally announced the decision today.

He also hinted that match fees could be increased further in the future. “When we review this again two years from today, if the BCB's position is good and our income increases further, we will increase it further,” he said.

Tamim said a cricketer could earn Tk 3 million to Tk 3.5 million a year following the increase in match fees. At the same time, he wants the players to show greater professionalism.

The BCB president said, “What we expect from our side now has to be fulfilled by them (the cricketers) as well. There are many discussions about professionalism in first-class cricket. There will be no compromise on that. When someone requests an exception after failing to pass the fitness test... none of these requests will be considered.”

Meanwhile, Tamim also announced increases in match fees for women's cricket, similar to those for men's cricket.

Women's first-class matches, which had previously been three-day games, will now be four-day matches to prepare for Test cricket. Female cricketers previously received Tk 20,000 per first-class match; they will now receive Tk 40,000.

In addition, the match fee for one-day matches has been increased from Tk 20,000 to Tk 30,000, while the T20 match fee has been raised from Tk 10,000 to Tk 20,000.