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Alastair Cook and Joe Root safely negotiated their way to the close to leave England 460 runs in arrears after Steven Smith’s maiden Test hundred

The Report by David Hopps22-Aug-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsSteve Smith went to a maiden Test century as Australia took control of the match•Getty Images

It is not often that striking Jonathan Trott for six has been portrayed as a career-defining moment, but that will understandably be Australia’s ambitions for Steven Smith after he completed a maiden Test hundred to quell England hopes of an unprecedented 4-0 victory in the Investec Ashes series.This series has long fallen to England but Australia could yet cobble together a reasonably cogent argument that they are finishing the stronger and, with another five Tests in store in the Great Brown Land to come, Smith’s unbeaten 138 – extended from 66 overnight – will support their contention that they can be competitive in the return.As for this final Test of the series, England could draw comfort from the fact that Alastair Cook and Joe Root survived 17.3 overs before bad light clipped a few minutes from the second day. They will hope that their decision to field two spinners for the first time in a home Test for four years will be justified by the end of the match but, after conceding nearly 500 and with an unsettled forecast for Saturday, the odds are not in their favour.To discover Trott trundling in as a bit-part bowler in England’s attack was no bad thing for Smith with a first Test hundred in the offing. Trott had only four Test wickets to his name and Smith allowed himself an over of reconnaissance before asking Brad Haddin, his batting partner: “Do you think I could hit him over the top?” Keep a clear mind, Haddin advised and Smith did just that.His response to the first ball of Trott’s second over, a graceful loft over long-on for six, might have been the final genial blow in a practice session, a gentle mickey-take of a team-mate. Instead, as his delighted expression showed, it was further proof of a potential breakthrough.Smith had been overshadowed by Shane Watson on the opening day. Conditions were more exacting as he resumed his innings but he reined in the most adventurous elements of his game, surviving against a ball that regularly nibbled around off the seam. His occasional full-blooded moments were well judged, which has not always been the case. When the mood takes him, he does not lack for courage.England will sense that they wasted a good bowling opportunity. When play finally began at 2.30pm – morning drizzle having delayed the start by three-and-a-half hours – the skies remained heavy, the pitch had a darker tinge and there was more encouragement for the seam bowlers than there had been on the opening day when Australia moved blissfully to 307 for 4.Smith’s mind attuned to a more taxing task but, understandably, the same could not be said for the nightwatchman Peter Siddle, who was picked off in Anderson’s third over of the day when he tried to whip the ball through midwicket and was bowled by a late outswinger.A year ago at The Oval, England were 250 for 2 before conditions changed, South Africa hurried them out for 385 and Hashim Amla’s triple century went on to ensure that England lost by an innings. With Australia five down for 320, England must have sensed their opportunity.But England were unable to make the same impact. Anderson and Broad bowled without much luck and Chris Woakes, although he exerted reasonable control, again made little impression as a third seamer. If he had been adequate at best on the first day, he would have hoped for better in more favourable, oft-times gloomy conditions, but he carried little menace.When Haddin on-drove him into a puddle on the boundary edge, it did not enhance England’s mood. If they asked for the ball to be changed once, they must have asked a thousand times.England also wasted a review with Haddin on 15, Matt Prior persuading Cook to turn to the DRS for an imagined leg-side glance in which the bowler, Anderson, had no interest. The ball missed the bat by a distance, underlining the feeling that England, who began the series as superior in their use of the DRS to Australia, now possess the same confusion.By the time Smith’s century arrived, followed shortly afterwards by tea, the skies were clearing and batting conditions had erased. Smith had achieved his moment; England had missed theirs. But Trott underlined that he is not quite as harmless as he appears. Four balls after Smith experienced the most fulfilling moment of his career, Haddin departed, trying to manufacture a chop behind square on the off side but deflecting the ball on to his stumps.With 36 overs remaining at tea, and a 7.30pm finish on the horizon, Australia’s main consideration was whether to have a bowl at England at the tail end of the day.They declared with 75 minutes left after a satisfying post-tea thrash brought a further 95 runs in 13 overs. England, whose professionalism knew no shame, dawdled through only 11 overs in the first hour, three by the offspinner Graeme Swann, retreating into obsessive ball drying and continued requests to change the ball rather than actually caring much about propelling it in front of a capacity Oval crowd.James Faulkner, a debutant allrounder who has made his name in one-day cricket, was well suited to instructions to make quick runs after tea. Three boundaries off Broad in four balls, the best of them a forearm smash over cover, gave him some fun before Woakes, in his 23rd over, took his first Test wicket when Faulkner’s top-edged pull was neatly taken on the run by Trott at deep square leg.Thirty-two overs had passed, and Australia had added 137 runs, before England introduced spin. Unsurprisingly, it was Graeme Swann, not Simon Kerrigan, whose method deserted him under Watson’s onslaught on the first day. Swann needed only two balls to strike, tossing one up and defeating Mitchell Starc’s lusty swing by a distance. Anderson ended a vigorous contribution from Ryan Harris with an excellent high catch off his own bowling.As Australia hit their way towards a declaration, England eschewed the option of turning to Kerrigan. An ambitious captain would have risked another mauling to give Kerrigan his first Test wicket. A conservative captain would have protected him for another day. Cook, to no great surprise, took the path of minimal risk.

Durham’s hopes of reaching the Yorkshire Bank 40 semi-finals were all but ended when Derbyshire skipper Wayne Madsen inspired his team to a crushing 107-run victory

15-Aug-2013
ScorecardWayne Madsen made 37 before taking three wickets•PA Photos

Durham’s hopes of reaching the Yorkshire Bank 40 semi-finals were all but ended when Derbyshire skipper Wayne Madsen inspired his team to a crushing 107-run victory in Group B under the County Ground floodlights.Madsen made 37 and shared a century stand with Richard Johnson as Derbyshire made 217 for 8 before he ambushed Durham with his off-spin to take 3 for 27 – his best figures in any form of cricket – as the visitors collapsed on a slow, turning Derby pitch.Durham never recovered after Madsen reduced them to 62 for 4 and David Wainwright took a limited-overs career-best 4 for 11 to send the visitors crashing to 110 all out in the 29th over as Derbyshire ended a run of four defeats to Durham this season.Durham had to win and started well against a weakened Derbyshire team missing Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Wes Durston, leaving their hosts in trouble on 36 for 3 in the ninth over. Mark Wood nibbled one away to have Ben Slater caught behind for six in the fourth over and after Chesney Hughes pulled Wood for six, he tried to repeat the shot against Chris Rushworth and holed out to deep midwicket for 24.Derbyshire were struggling when Wood had Paul Borrington caught at gully but Madsen joined Johnson in a stand that put the Falcons back in the match. Johnson had a lucky escape when he was caught behind for 17 with the total on 61 but Ben Stokes had overstepped and that proved costly as the fourth-wicket pair worked the ball around to add 103 from 114 balls.Madsen straight drove Gareth Breese for six and Johnson hit four fours in a 58-ball 50 before Paul Collingwood switched ends to remove them both in the 27th over. Madsen mistimed a pull and was caught at mid-on and three balls later, Collingwood cut one back to bowl Johnson but 22 from 15 balls by Tony Palladino and 25 extras lifted Derbyshire to a challenging total on a slow pitch.It looked an even better when Madsen surprisingly opened with his occasional off-breaks and struck twice in a five-over spell that cost only 13 runs. Phil Mustard tried to cut a straight one and was bowled for a duck and Scott Borthwick pulled to deep-midwicket to put Durham on the back foot at 14 for 2.Collingwood and Mark Stoneman added 46 in nine overs but it was not easy to force the pace and when Madsen returned at the Grandstand End, Stoneman was caught at long off for 25 when he tried to hit down the ground. It was impossible to keep Madsen out of the game and he took a simple catch in the next over when Collingwood pushed Tom Knight’s left-arm spin to short extra-cover.Knight struck another huge blow when he bowled the dangerous Stokes for nine and celebrated his best List A figures of 3 for 36 before Wainwright sealed victory with 11.4 overs remaining.

West Indies Under-19s secured a six-wicket victory over Bangladesh Under-19s in the first ODI in Guyana to lead the seven-match series 1-0

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Oct-2013
ScorecardLeroy Lugg made a half-century on debut and picked up the Man-of-the-Match award•WICB Media

West Indies Under-19s secured a convincing victory over Bangladesh Under-19s in the first ODI in Guyana to lead the seven-match series 1-0.Marquino Mindley and Ray Jordan added merit to the home side’s decision to bowl, reducing Bangladesh to 21 for 3. Mehedy Hasan, the 15-year-old allrounder and captain of the side, and Jashimuddin contrived to add backbone into a floundering total but they were unable to consolidate their starts. Once both batsmen fell in the 20s, the tail faltered as well, courtesy Alzarri Joseph’s three wickets.An early breakthrough, provided by Mehedy’s off spin, proved only a stumble as opener Leroy Lugg, on debut, led the chase with a half-century. Bangladesh dug into every resource at their disposal – they utilised nine bowlers – but Tristan Coleman and Fabian Allen took West Indies home with more than 15 overs remaining. Lugg was named Man of the Match for his 69.

Rajiv Shukla, the IPL chairman, has said the BCCI is looking to scrap the Champions League Twenty20 in favour of an alternative tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff15-May-20151:13

Kalra: Alternative option required to protect sponsorship interests

Rajiv Shukla, the IPL chairman, has said the BCCI is looking to scrap the Champions League Twenty20. The issue was discussed at the board’s governing council meeting in April as a result of limited interest from fans and sponsors.Shukla said there are thoughts of conducting a different tournament in its place, and that he and BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur are weighing possible options.”Yes, we are planning to do away with the Champions League T20,” he told . “In place of that, we are considering an alternative league. But at the moment all this is at the planning stage.”Several ideas are coming and honourable secretary and myself are considering those ideas. We will sit together after the IPL gets over and try and plan out something.”At the moment we don’t have anything in hand, but yes we are in the process of bouncing off ideas. When something concrete comes up, we will certainly bring it to everyone’s notice.”There have been six editions of the CLT20 so far pitting the top teams of various countries against each other. India, Australia and South Africa are the primary stakeholders of the tournament, while teams from West Indies, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have been regular competitors.The major fallout for the teams would be the loss of monetary benefits. CLT20 appearances are included in IPL teams’ sponsorship deals and the non-Indian teams receive $200,000.There have been reports of the top-four IPL teams who make the playoffs this season to play a league-based event leading into a knockout stage to be played in the UAE.

Mumbai Indians dished out the perfect formulaic fare – win toss, score enough runs and throttle the opponent in the field – to subdue Chennai Super Kings by 25 runs and march into the final

The Report by Arun Venugopal19-May-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details 5:01

O’Brien: CSK were two wickets behind the whole time

Mumbai Indians dished out the perfect formulaic fare – win toss, score enough runs and throttle the opponent in the field – to subdue Chennai Super Kings by 25 runs and march into the final.After Lendl Simmons and Kieron Pollard took Mumbai’s score to 187, they shadowed Super Kings throughout their chase, never allowing them to get on top. Harbhajan Singh’s dismissals of Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni off consecutive deliveries in the 11th over helped Mumbai make the decisive surge.Apart from Faf du Plessis, who consolidated after an early wicket, and R Ashwin, who dealt a few powerful blows towards the end, Super Kings’ batting, as Dhoni later put it, was soft. It was only a matter of time before Mumbai clinched their eighth win in nine games.After a decent start, Super Kings found themselves in the rather unfamiliar territory of a middle-order collapse, and more disturbingly for them they didn’t have the right response. The very next ball after Raina pushed one straight back at Harbhajan, Dhoni , attempting a sweep, was caught plumb in front. But the lbw that caused much angst to Super Kings was that of Dwayne Smith, ruled out by Richard Illingworth when a Lasith Malinga low full toss in the first over struck him well outside leg stump.But du Plessis, who was later dropped on 14 by Malinga, remained Super Kings’ banker. However, his dismissal in the 14th over, which was followed by Parthiv Patel’s sharp run-out of Dwayne Bravo, quelled any late uprising. Ashwin belted out some elegant hits, but with no recognised batsman at the other end there was too much for him to do. Super Kings folded up two balls after his dismissal in the 19th over.Even though Mumbai didn’t go berserk from the beginning, openers Simmons and Parthiv Patel didn’t panic after a slow start.After negotiating tidy opening spells from Ashwin, who opened the bowling for the second time this year, and Ashish Nehra, Simmons blasted a brace of sixes off Ashwin to shrug off the inertia. While he played out 25 dot balls, he compensated with five sixes and three fours during the course of his 51-ball 65. Simmons looked to be hurling everything he had at the ball, and besides hacking the ball down the ground, his fast hands came in handy while guiding the ball late.Parthiv joined in with his clear-the-front-leg-and-swipe approach soon after, and together they completed their fourth 50-plus partnership of the tournament. After Bravo sent back Parthiv, the incidence of wickets appeared to be a little more frequent, but it didn’t have a palpable impact on the scoring-rate: they scored 49 runs from the 10th to 15th overs, and managed 52 in their last five.Pollard played an influential role in this respect, slamming a 17-ball 41 with five sixes and a four. He largely favoured the leg side, besides going straight every once in a while. That he kept going despite wickets falling at the other end hurt Super Kings, whose fielding was uncharacteristically patchy. It rubbed on to their bowling towards the end: Bravo bowled three wides in the last over, which cost him 16 runs.Super Kings were on exactly the same score – 86 – as their opponents at the halfway mark, having lost two wickets to Mumbai’s none. But the loss of four wickets in the next five overs saw them slide irreversibly.

Dan Christian is the allrounder chosen by Notts Outlaws to try to fill the void left by Darren Sammy’s departure to the Caribbean Premier League

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Jun-2015Notts Outlaws have signed Australian all-rounder Dan Christian for the remainder of the NatWest T20 Blast campaign.
Christian fills the void left by Darren Sammy who has departed for the Caribbean Premier League following a four-game stint with the Outlaws.Christian had only limited success during an unproductive Middlesex campaign last season, but Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket Mick Newell he can be a successful substitute for Sammy.”I keep saying that, particularly with international call-ups and injuries around, we need to be as strong as we can be,” he said. “So with an overseas vacancy available to us following Darren’s departure to the CPL, and knowing of Dan’s availability as we have for some time, it was an easy decision to bring him in.”He’s someone that tends to score his runs quickly and he also provides a very good option with the ball, which you need plenty of in T20 cricket.”Christian, who has 34 caps in white ball cricket for Australia, has amassed 146 career Twenty20 appearances including stints in the Indian Premier League with Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers Bangalore. On English shores, he was a Friends Life T20 winner with Hampshire in 2010.He averages 20.11 with the bat, at a strike-rate of 128.53 that includes a century – 129 off 57 balls for Middlesex against Kent last season – and two fifties. His average with the bat is 27.72 with the ball at an economy rate of 8.16 runs per over.”Dan is a very aggressive and entertaining batsman to add to our line-up and also one that has lots of know-how in how to read the game and pace an innings,” added Newell.”He also has lots of experience, particularly in Twenty20, and I know he’s very keen to pass that onto our young players which is important. Darren Sammy certainly did that and I’m sure Dan Christian will do likewise.”

Yasir Shah, who has become the fastest Pakistan bowler to 50 Test wickets, has said his only aim is to do the best he can for his country

Umar Farooq in Colombo26-Jun-2015Before the Test series started, Zulfiqar Babar confidently predicted that Yasir Shah would take more wickets than him, and Yasir’s bowling numbers so far have emphatically proved him right. In just eight months, Yasir has made his journey from oblivion to become the fastest Pakistan bowler to take 50 Test wickets, surpassing Pakistan’s coach Waqar Younis.Yasir said he was happy to achieve the record which would further strengthen his confidence. “I still remember when Shane Warne tweeted me, that gave me ample confidence,” Yasir said after the second day in Colombo. “With his words I was under pressure, thinking how I will live up to his appreciation but with every match I played since then I have started to thrive.”I never thought that far [on being the fastest Pakistan bowler to 50 wickets] when I made my debut against Australia. The only aim was to just concentrate on doing good for the country. I knew in Test cricket I needed to be patient and I did exactly what needed to be done. Misbah has supported me all the way. For a legspinner, the field placement is very important and I am glad that the captain is giving me enough freedom to set the field.”After making his first-class debut in 2002, Yasir got his chance in Test chance last year, and has since left an indelible mark in the format. He took nine wickets in Galle, which included figures of 7 for 76 in the second innings – the best by an overseas bowler in Tests in Sri Lanka. After more than a decade on the domestic circuit, Yasir is not only acknowledged but also respected. On day two in the press box, Pakistan’s consistency in developing world-class bowlers was repeatedly commended.Yasir’s 13-year first-class career includes 336 wickets at an average of 25.05. He is one of many bowling prospects who had been pushed back with the burgeoning success of Saeed Ajmal in the last five years. He took his second five-for in the space of five days in the second Test in Colombo, after bowling 40 overs – the most by any bowler from both sides so far, primarily because Pakistan have lost Wahab Riaz for the rest of the series due to injury.After the first Test, Sri Lanka targetted Yasir as a tactic to neutralise him but it was to no effect as Yasir troubled the batsmen with his impressive variations and kept a check on the run rate, going at an economy rate of 2.37 in his 40 overs. Sri Lanka managed to hit him for 10 fours but kept on losing wickets at regular intervals.”The pitch is still playing well but expect more spin on the fourth and fifth day, it has definitely something to offer. Today the idea was to avoid bowling short and wait for the wickets to come and it worked. Unfortunately, Wahab Riaz got injured and we were forced to play with one bowler short. But the rest have given their 100%, though I had to bowl bit longer. But the plan remained the same to contain as much as we can.”

Bangladesh’s captain Mashrafe Mortaza and players have said they are ecstatic at bouncing back from the defeat in the first ODI to win the series against South Africa 2-1

Mohammad Isam in Chittagong15-Jul-2015Amid the roaring support of a full house that had braved an evening thunderstorm in Chittagong, Bangladesh’s ODI captain Mashrafe Mortaza lifted the trophy his team had wrested from South Africa. He then flashed the victory sign and posed for photos before leaving for the press conference, where he said: “We used to dream of beating big teams. Now we are beating them.””After some time we will realise that as a professional team we should all have our feet on the ground,” Mashrafe said of Bangladesh’s recent success. “We should maintain discipline because there will be a lot of tough challenges coming up. I knew that if we have a good World Cup, we will be set up for the rest of the year. That’s what has happened. We have four Tests coming up and I will hope these series win will help us.”Mashrafe was asked at the presentation ceremony whether he would request that the Prime Minister grant an extra day of Eid holiday to mark his team’s achievement. He had to be asked again, before he sheepishly agreed he would. He said the Bangladesh team do celebrate much apart from a rendition of their team song, , the Bengali version of , immediately after the victory. They retire to their rooms quickly. The festivities may not be excessive but that will not take away from the magnitude of Bangladesh’s crowning achievement in Chittagong.On the back of 3-0 and 5-0 wins over Zimbabwe, Bangladesh reached the quarter-final of the 2015 World Cup, a tournament in which Associates were touted to challenge them. Then they crushed Pakistan 3-0 and a full-strength India 2-1 at home. Now they have beaten South Africa, a team that in the last 13 years has defeated Bangladesh by margins 206, 168 and 128 runs, and twice by ten wickets.”It is special,” Mashrafe said. “I said previously that when a team starts losing a few matches, there’s talk from outside and the team goes under pressure. Many of my team-mates are young. It was important to see how they can turn around. I think it is a sign of a good team how we have made a comeback. Credit goes to the boys and team management.Mashrafe did not want to compare the series wins against Pakistan, India and South Africa, but he said it was a show of Bangladesh’s character that they came back from 0-1 down to beat South Africa.”Beating a big side is different than beating weaker teams. It’s always important to hold on to the momentum. We have done so since the World Cup, through the Pakistan and India series. We made a brilliant comeback against South Africa after three losses. It was much needed. It shows character.”Mashrafe conceded the absence of AB de Villiers had been a factor but he had expected Hashim Amla and David Miller to put pressure on Bangladesh. “Not having AB de Villiers would have been good for any team, even Australia,” he said. “They wouldn’t have needed just AB de Villiers to beat us. They have Hashim Amla who averages 54, they have Killer Miller and other such things they have. People don’t mention our players in the same way.”Mahmudullah, who made 50 in the pivotal win in the second ODI, contributed with a wicket with his first ball in the third. He was happy to have made a comeback after being out of the team for more than a month with a finger injury. “This is obviously one of our greatest wins,” he said. “To win like this after going a game down in the opener, hats off to our team. Personally for me, too, this has been great. To comeback from an injury and to be able to perform, it feels really good.”Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha, a key factor in the team’s turnaround since last October, emphasised he was extremely happy. “I think you can see how happy I am just by looking at me. I am very, very, very happy. This is definitely a great win. Not just this series, all of them … against India, Pakistan, all of them are great wins. I won’t compare one win to the other, I have enjoyed all of them thoroughly.”Opener Tamim Iqbal made an unbeaten 61 off 77 balls in the third ODI – only the third time he had remained not out in a Bangladesh chase. “It definitely feels really good,” Tamim said. “I don’t think you have to ask me regarding how I rate this series win. I think the entire atmosphere says it all. It feels really good.”

It may be only be a conditioning camp, with as many as 27 players in the mix, but for Al-Amin Hossain and Sohag Gazi, being called up to be among them is a huge relief

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Aug-2015It may be only be a conditioning camp, with as many as 27 players in the mix, but for Al-Amin Hossain and Sohag Gazi, being called up to be among them is a huge relief. Out of contention for roughly the same time, both bowlers now have a platform from which to get back into the Bangladesh team for the upcoming Test series against Australia in October.The training camp will mainly focus on fitness. Skill work will begin from September 5. The National Cricket League first-class competition is also being preponed to get the Test players some game time ahead of the Australia series.Al-Amin hasn’t played international cricket since November 2014. So this is a chance for him to reconnect. He had been part of the World Cup squad, but was sent home midway through due to disciplinary issues. Since his last international outing, he has taken 12 first-class wickets at an average of 32.58 in five games.Although Bangladesh struggled for penetration in their pace attack in the Tests against Pakistan, India and South Africa, Al-Amin was kept out. He is taking the training camp as a sign of being “in the selectors’ plans” again. He had also been part of the Players of National Interest (PONI) camp recently in the National Cricket Academy.”I am feeling great, a lot relieved,” Al-Amin said. “I was in the PONI camp but I didn’t feel really sure of my future. But getting called in this camp means at least now I am in the selectors’ plans. I can work on my fitness, and I am getting a chance to prove myself.”Spending the last six months out of the national side, he said he has understood that the team’s composition is changing and the competition within it has gone up as a result of recent victories.”I have seen both sides [being in and out of the squad] in a very short span of time. I learned a lot. I also understand the team is not what it was a year ago. There’s a lot of competition. I have to prove my worth,” he said.Gazi’s story is similar. He served a short suspension at international cricket for an illegal action, got the clean chit from the ICC in February this year and has already played a T20 for Bangladesh in July. He also felt the call-up to the training camp was a sign that he remains in contention for the national side, but felt hard done by having to sit out most of the 2014-15 season.”I was disappointed,” Gazi told . “I played for the senior team recently but from there I was nowhere. It is hard to explain this feeling. It is good to be called up to the camp. I can tell myself now that I am in contention.”It is hard to assess fitness after just one T20. But I will improve my fitness, which goes down when you are out of the team. This is a chance to make it better. The National Cricket League is coming up so I will use the conditioning camp for my own benefit. Doing well in the domestic circuit will surely bring me more opportunities. “It is, however, likely that both players could end up playing for Bangladesh A in their African tour in October and November, the same time as the Australia tour.

After a gap of more than two years, the third edition of the Bangladesh Premier League will begin on November 24

Mohammad Isam16-Sep-2015After a gap of more than two years, the third edition of the Bangladesh Premier League will begin on November 24. It will be a six-team competition with three new franchise owners set to take part.The Dhaka, Chittagong and Barisal teams will now be run by Beximco Group, DBL Group and Axiom Technologies respectively. There will not be a franchise for Rajshahi and Khulna this year.The BCB have retained only three of the old franchise owners. The board had said they would only accept bids from those who had paid their dues from the 2013 edition, as well as the Tk 5.5 crore (approx USD 750,000) bank guarantee that had to be paid for the third edition. Only Alif Group, Royal Sports Limited and I Sports were able to do so.Alif Group were previous owners of the Barisal franchise but this time they will own the Sylhet team and I Sports take control of Rangpur.Royal Sports Limited picked Comilla, which is not a division yet, but BPL governing council’s member secretary Haider Mallick reasoned that, “The government has made Mymensingh as a division recently and possibly Comilla is in line too. As a result, this year we have decided to go with City Corporations, and not divisions. It will be a 10-team competition in the future although there are 20 City Corporations. We are giving the team for four years and the contract can be renewed through discussions at the end of the term.”Mallick and BCB president Nazum Hasan are employees of Beximco, but Mallick said they will not be involved with the Dhaka franchise in any capacity. The BPL governing council has decided that none among them can own or advice a franchise but anyone outside the governing council can participate in a franchise.”Nobody from the BPL governing council can be involved with the teams. They can’t be an owner or even stay as an adviser. But board directors or anyone who is not in the governing council, they can participate with the team.”I work in Beximco Pharma. The team was bought by Beximco Group. I am employed by Beximco, I am not an owner. I will not be involved with the team. The board president is also not an owner, he is an employee. He will also not be involved with this team. There will be no conflict of interest in this matter,” Mallick said.