Decision likely in next BCB meeting

The fate of last Sunday's Super League fixture between Abahani and Prime Doleshwar, which was postponed as the umpires had reportedly 'fallen sick' in the middle of the game, is likely to be decided by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) within this week.

The Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis (CCDM), the organisers of the league, forwarded the match referee's report to the BCB's disciplinary committee yesterday. According to the BCB's CEO, Nizamuddin Chowdhury, a decision regarding the match will be taken based on the recommendations provided by the disciplinary committee ahead of Sunday's board meeting.

“Our board meeting is scheduled to take place on Sunday. I am positive that the disciplinary committee will be able to provide us with a recommendation ahead of the board meeting. A decision may be taken during the board meeting,” Chowdhury told The Daily Star yesterday.

Meanwhile, the member-secretary of the BCB's umpire committee, Sailab Hossain Tutul has said that they will assess the incident with an internal fact-finding committee. “Our main aim is to find out why the umpires left the field and what the exact situation was. In my 40 years of cricketing experience, I have never seen two umpires leave the field at the same time,” said Tutul.

The game between Abahani and Prime Doleshwar was stopped midway on Sunday with the umpires deciding to leave the field. In the 17th over of the second innings a stumping decision went against Abahani. The decision angered Abahani skipper Tamim Iqbal, who then got into a highly animated discussion with the umpires. The skipper seemed extremely angry.

Following that episode the game continued for eight more balls, after which the umpires decided to leave the field. The match referee told reporters that both the umpires had fallen sick and that they would not be able to continue to officiate. Many expected the game to continue on the reserve day on Monday with different umpires. However, there was no action on the reserve day.