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Old October 8, 2003, 11:20 AM
Sham Sham is offline
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Join Date: October 15, 2002
Location: London, UK
Posts: 3,070
Default Oracle,

Yes, there will be some radical improvements in the outer venues because they have to be made match ready for the youth world cup. But before we get too excited, let me qualify that by saying that some of these venues are pretty poor to begin with, so radical change doesn't bring them up to Test standard. Right now, the stadiums in Khulna and Rajshahi don't have modern dressing room facilities and more importantly good practice facilities, so these things will have to be put in place. However, we will not have 7 Test venues anytime soon.

I spoke to Ali Asghar Lobi and Mahbubul Anam (Chairman, Cricket Committee of the BCB, not Bangladesh Cricket Committee) when the Enquiry Committee Report was handed over and they said that the one good thing that will come out of hosting this tournament if not anything else is that we will be left with much-improved infrastructure outside Dhaka and Chittagong.

I think it is important to bring some of these grounds in the divisional capitals up to a certain standards. We don't need too many more Test grounds. We will not get more than 3 Tests in a series for atleast another 30 years. So, all we need is one more Test ground. But its important for our domestic teams to have better infrastructure, for the youngsters to have better practice facilities etc.

As for selecting venues, it is not a random process. There are two things to consider, one is, which are the centres of cricket, and secondly, where do we have existing facilities that can be improved rather than having to build from scratch. The first thing to do is bring all the divisional grounds up to standard, that is Sylhet, Khulna, Rajshahi and Barisal, so that when we have a home-and-away First Class league on, all matches are played on decent grounds with decent facilities. Basically, each of the First Class sides need a good home ground. I'm not sure whether putting cricket grounds near tourist spots is feasible.

[Edited on 8-10-2003 by Sham]
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