Bangladesh’s sports minister Aminul Haque will consult the ICC before taking a final decision on the future of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). He also plans to appoint a second committee to investigate why Bangladesh could not participate at this year’s men’s T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.
Haque, a former Bangladesh football captain, said on Tuesday that once the five-member committee submitted its report – within 15 working days – he would discuss the matter with the ICC.
“We are all aware of direct interference from our previous government in the BCB elections last year,” he said. “I have spoken about it on a number of occasions. Following allegations from Dhaka clubs and the districts, we have formed an investigation committee. I will read their report, but my next step will come after I have spoken to the ICC.”
Haque said the investigators would examine the process through which district administrators changed their nominations before the elections.
“The investigation committee will speak to the BCB election commissioners, the current board president, BCB directors and the CEO. It will also get in touch with the district administrators who nominated the BCB councillors,” Haque said. “There is an allegation that many of these district administrators sent the name of a new councillor after having already nominated one, following receipt of a letter [from Aminul]. I believe there has to be a neutral investigation of these matters.”
On the T20 World Cup, where the BCB refused to send a team to India due to security concerns and after three weeks of negotiations, the ICC replaced Bangladesh with Scotland, Haque said, “We will try to find out why we didn’t go to the World Cup. We have to understand why our sports diplomacy fell short. We will form an investigation committee on this subject after Eid. We have to strengthen our sports diplomacy and make sure we don’t repeat this mistake in the future.”
