Joty wants more domestic T20s for women’s cricketers
Bangladesh women's team skipper Nigar Sultana Joty pointed at the lack of Twenty20 matches for women's cricketers at the domestic level and asked the board for more matches and designated tournaments in the format.
Apart from the national team assignments, the top women's cricketers of the country hardly play any T20s and for players who are not a part of the Bangladesh team setup, the opportunity of playing T20 matches are even slimmer.
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The Dhaka Premier Division Women's Cricket League is the only domestic tournament for women's cricketers that take place regularly while Women's National Cricket League (WNCL) takes place sporadically. Both these tournaments, however, are 50-over competitions.
The Tigresses will leave for Sri Lanka on Tuesday to take part in the ACC Women's T20 Asia Cup and are also set to host the ICC Women's T20 World Cup in October.
With the T20 World Cup in sight, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is planning to host the WNCL in the T20 format in August this year.
However, Joty wants the board to consider hosting T20 tournaments for women's cricketers on a regular basis, without which the cricketers have very little hope of improving in the format.
"Both our men's and women's teams are not strong in this format [T20]. Playing a smaller number of domestic competitions can be one of the reasons why," Joty said during a press conference at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Monday.
"We always think that if we can play more series or tournaments in this format, we would benefit from it. But it needs to be competitive, otherwise it will be of no use.
"I think the cricket board is planning a lot of things as we will host the T20 World Cup this year. I hope they will create more opportunities so that we can better prepare ourselves in this format," she added.
BCB's women's wing head Habibul Bashar, who was also present during the press meet alongside Joty and head coach Hashan Tillakaratne, said they are working on holding more domestic competitions including a Women's Bangladesh Premier League (WBPL).
"When I took charge, I felt it [more domestic tournaments] was essential for the team. Those who are out of the national team, they don't have enough practice facilities. It's also difficult for them to maintain fitness," said Bashar.
"We didn't have NCL last year but we are hosting the tournament this year after Asia Cup. We are also trying to host few other tournaments as well… I think it's a demand of the time [hosting WBPL]. I can't say too much about the tournament right now but I can say that we are discussing about it. Hopefully, next year it will be introduced."
Bangladesh didn't fare too well against Australia and India during their recent home series where their batting was abysmal.
Head coach Tillakaratne admitted their recent batting failures but was hopeful that the team would do better in the Asia Cup.
"I think it's all about fear of failure. We know that they have come from different backgrounds. We have to back them up and encourage them all the way. We haven't played very good cricket. But I believe in the team," he said.
Bangladesh, the champions of the 2018 edition in Malaysia, are in Group B this year and will begin their tournament against Sri Lanka on July 20, before facing Malaysia and Thailand on July 22 and 24 respectively.
Group A comprises of India, Pakistan, Nepal and the UAE.
Top two teams from each group will qualify for the semifinals, scheduled on July 26, while the final will take place on July 28. All matches will be held at the Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium in Dambulla.
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