Monday, 26 August 2013 00:00
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The Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League’s lottery-based player transfer will be held on Sunday. The complex method devised by the BCB is called “players by choice”, and will end a six-month wait for Bangladesh’s professional cricketers who can now look forward to a 3 September start to the 2012-13 league.
The first-time system, however, is complicated, and some clubs are still confused about certain rules after a demonstration on Friday. It has been formulated after many of them demanded a level playing field, faced with exorbitant salary demands from the players. Each club will pay the players for one season, the period of their contract.
The 12 Premier League clubs will pick their choice of players from the 189 divided into seven categories - A+ (fixed salary of Tk 22 lakh), A (Tk 15 lakh), B+ (Tk 10 lakh), B (Tk 8 lakh), C (Tk 5 lakh), D (Tk 2.5 lakh) and E (Tk 1 lakh) [US$1 = 77 taka, 1 million = 10 lakh].
The clubs will first have to take part in a lottery to determine their calling number in each of the 15 rounds for categories A to E. In each round, the club which drew first in the lottery will have first choice of players. Each round will have a separate lottery.
For the topmost category, A+, the draw will see the interested clubs taking part only until the four players - Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal and Nasir Hossain - are recruited. “For example, if six clubs take part in the A+ category’s calling, two will miss out,” said Jalal Yunus, Chairman of the Dhaka Metropolis Cricket Committee, the BCB sub-committee which runs the Dhaka leagues. Once the top bracket is taken care of, the clubs will have to pick 11 players from the next five categories (A, B+, B, C and D). Each club can recruit a maximum of two players from category A, three from B+, four from B, three from C, four from D and four from E. At least one player has to be picked from category E.
Clubs won’t be allowed to pass on their calls in categories A to D, but it is allowed for category E. The BCB didn’t clarify if passing is allowed for category A+ players.
Listed players who are not called will be considered as “free”, and can be registered by any club. The same is applicable for unlisted players.
The system is styled after the draft in American sports, except for a few details. Usually, the players in the Dhaka Premier League change club allegiances every year through an exchange which lasts two to three days. The BCB has confirmed this will be the only season when they will use the “players by choice” method, and from 2013-14, the transfer season will return to its normal ways.
