Journalists Boycott BCB Press Conference

Even after 25 years of Bangladesh’s Test debut, decentralization in the country’s cricket has not been achieved. To pursue that goal, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) organized the “Bangladesh Cricket Conference” for the first time last Sunday. On the first day of the two-day conference, around 250 participants—including cricket coaches, councillors, women entrepreneurs, and sports officials—from eight divisions and 64 districts took part.

After the opening day, BCB President Aminul Islam Bulbul told reporters that before the press conference on the final day, BCB would celebrate the 25th anniversary of Bangladesh’s Test debut along with sports journalists. However, the next day presented a different picture.

At a hotel in Dhaka yesterday at 4 p.m., BCB had invited sports journalists to join them for a cake-cutting ceremony marking 25 years of Bangladesh’s Test debut. But even after waiting for an hour past the scheduled time, journalists did not receive any briefing from BCB officials. Instead, the board representatives cut the cake inside while keeping the journalists waiting outside the gate.

On the first day as well, board officials had arrived half an hour late for the press conference after the conference session. In protest of such behaviour for two consecutive days, the attending sports journalists jointly announced a boycott of the press conference.

Khaborwala/TSN