Four months later, players still unpaid

The player-by-choice system, introduced in the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League in 2013 in an attempt to resolve the non-payment issue of the clubs, has not really changed the scenario till date.

According the Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB's) instructions, the clubs have to pay the players 25 per cent of their fees before the start of the league, 25 percent at the end of the league's first phase, and the remaining 50 per cent within six weeks of the end of the Super League.

However, Brothers Union cricketers -- former Bangladesh all-rounder Alok Kapali and opener Junaid Siddique -- met with BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury yesterday and informed that they are yet to get the remaining 25 percent of their payments from the league which ended over four months ago in April.

"We had communicated with the officials of Brothers Union and they said that we will receive  the remaining payment before Eid-ul-Fitr. But despite asking for a specific date we did not receive our payment before Eid. When we contacted them again they said that they will clear our payments before Eid-ul-Adha but still there are no signs of our payment till today [Sunday]. So we have decided to talk to the CEO and he assured us that we will get our outstanding payments by September," Kapali told reporters at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.

Previously, Kalabagan Krira Chakra cricketers also complained to the CEO about non-payment in May this year.

Kapali said that the board should look after the payment problems surrounding the player-by-choice system, which the cricketers have been opposing from the very beginning.

"I would request the board to ensure the players' payment properly under the player-by-choice system which will be helpful for us as we have agreed whatever they said. Previously when we used to play in the contract system we never missed our payments most times, apart from one or two clubs," he said.

BCB CEO Nizamuddin said that the board is hopeful that the clubs will clear the remaining payments and if not, the board will take its own course of action.

"It's unfortunate that the hundred per cent payment has not been cleared, which is a breach of the clubs' terms with the BCB. But we still hope that the clubs who are yet to clear the players' payments do so soon, and if they are still unable to clear it, the board will take its own course," Nizamuddin told The Daily Star yesterday.