On Friday, May 30, Faruque Ahmed was replaced as president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) by former national captain Aminul Islam. Cricbuzz received confirmation of the development from BCB officials. He will serve as the board’s sixteenth president.
“Our respected directors of the Cricket Board have elected me as the Board President. I received that call from the Honorable Sports Advisor. I was honoured. Now, I have received an even bigger responsibility,” said Aminul.
“We wish to improve cricket in Bangladesh. I think that the entire Bangladeshi population plays cricket, not only eleven individuals. I’m hoping we all play as a single unit. We’ve won the U19 World Cup, played Test cricket for 25 years, and watched our women’s team win the Asia Cup because we’ve done it before. We can set even higher goals. There is more we can accomplish. We all support our team, which is the Bangladesh team.
“Let’s work together to take Bangladesh cricket to greater heights. Once again, I thank all the directors of the Bangladesh Cricket Board. I also congratulate the two newly elected Vice Presidents – Fahim Sinha and Nazmul Abedin Fahim. This is the team we’ve formed, and we want to move forward with this team. Let’s not talk too much – I want to focus on working more. We have plans, and to implement them, we seek your support,” he said in his interaction with the media.
The National Sports Council (NSC) dismissed Faruque as a council member and, ultimately, removed him from his position as president, according to a report by Cricbuzz. Sheikh Hamim Hasan was previously replaced by Aminul, a government-nominated councillor to the BCB, who was appointed by the NSC. In a letter dated May 29, NSC verified the development.
Aminul, who represented Bangladesh in 13 Test matches and 49 ODIs, stated to Cricbuzz on May 30 that holding an open election for the board is his top priority. He hopes to use his experience as a development officer at the ICC to advance cricket in Bangladesh at the local level.
“Our number one priority is to spread cricket. You know when we gained Test status, we promised the ICC that we would make cricket decentralised by forming a regional governing body.
“The framework is ready, I will present it to the board tomorrow. There will be three success factors. There will be a robust coaching system across the country. We will identify talents. And we will try to form a competitive cricket structure from where we can find out the natural raw talents,” he said.
