BCB getting more organized to tackle covid-19

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is mulling a more organised setup to tackle the Covid-19 concerns and thinking to split the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium of Mirpur into green and red zones. 

Last week BCB were forced to suspend the individual training sessions of the cricketers at the home of cricket of the country after one of the board’s trainer was reported positive while at least two other staff members showed symptoms of the virus.

The board had initially planned to keep the training at hold for three days which now has been extended in order to enhance precaution measures against Covid-19.

“We will take a few more days to create a safer and restricted environment and planning to make the stadium more restricted than before. We are planning to divide the stadium in to two zones -green and red. We are planning to have the green zone which is a safe zone in which the cricketers will be able to roam safely,” said BCB chief executive officer Nizamuddin Chowdhury to the media on Sunday.

“Red zone is not a bad or a risky zone but it is just to create a restricted environment. We are also thinking to have accreditation for the staff and the grounds-men who however will have to maintain a safe distance from the players,” the BCB high official added.

It is learnt that the BCB is arranging to pickup samples from each of the players involved in the practice session at SBNS from their home today and if things they are found covid-19 negative the practice will resume from Tuesday.

Bangladesh national team cricketers along with players that are likely to be part of BCB high-performance unit have been training individually at four different venues in the country for past few weeks. The cricketers are prepping for the long tour of Sri Lanka scheduled to start later this month, where Bangladesh team will play a three-match Test series against the host nation. BCB High Performance Unit in the initial part of the tour will aid the national team’s preparation and later follow their own itinerary of locking horns with their counterparts in the Island country. 

The new health safety measures of BCB will be taken in order to ensure the national team, HP squad and Bangladesh U19 side an uninterrupted and safe training environment.

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“We are emphasising on the national team, high performance squad and the under-19 side where we have already monitoring all the players through the covid-19 well being app. At the moment our main importance is to create a safer and uninterrupted training before sending the national and high performance squad for the Sri Lanka tour,” Nizamuddin explained.

Bangladesh head coach Russell Domingo along with fielding coach Ryan Cook was scheduled to reach Dhaka on Sunday evening. The two South Africans were initially schedule to reach Dhaka on September 2 but faced issues over the fight. Bowling coach Ottis Gibson is schedule to set foot in Dhaka on Monday morning. All the coaching staff will have to quarantine at least for 10 days before joining the cricketers in the training. BCB national selection panel is likely to announce the squad within a few days as the cricketers will first undergo a week-long residential camp before travelling to Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, the Bangladesh cricketers attended Covid-19 awareness online sessions with two experts. According to BCB officials one of the experts is UK based while the other comes from the University of Dhaka. 

“They are researchers and the purpose of having them is to make our players aware about Covid-19. Their first online session, which lasted for just above an hour with the players was held on Thursday night. More than 50 national and High Performance Centre players attended the seminar,” said BCB chief physician D Debashish Chowdhury to the media.

“We are planning to invite them for one more session here with the players before we actually begin our Sri Lanka tour,” he added.