A Special Interview with Aminul Islam Bulbul

[Miraz]

I have taken a very thought provoking interview of Aminul Islam Bulbul over the weekend. I am very much impressed with his thoughts about Bangladesh Cricket especially domestic cricket.

In the interview he unfolded his thoughts about the much needed developments of domestic infrastructure, Bangladesh’s struggle in Test cricket and his willingness to contribute for Bangladesh cricket.

I will post the interview within couple of days.

Keep coming on this thread for a very special interview.

[cricket_pagol]

That's Awesome Miraz Bhai!!! Don't keep us waiting for long!

[israr]

Originally Posted by Miraz
Keep coming on this thread for a very special interview.

Thanks for making us(I mean BC members) feel special too, as the interview is exclusive.

[Tehsin]

Originally Posted by israr
Thanks for making us(I mean BC members) feel special too, as the interview is exclusive.

Unless it shows up on Cricinfo. :P

[Miraz]

Originally Posted by Tehsin
Unless it shows up on Cricinfo. :P

BC version will be always exclusive.

Recent Ashraful piece is the classic example.

[Kabir]

Originally Posted by Miraz
Recent Ashraful piece is the classic example.

For Ashraful piece, they didn't take your permission? Are you serious?

[Miraz]

Originally Posted by Kabir
For Ashraful piece, they didn't take your permission? Are you serious?

You got it wrong. They took my permission and we had communications about the piece.

I am saying about the difference in the two piece. Many of us mentioned that the BC version was more passionate one compared to Cricinfo.

[Kabir]

Originally Posted by Tehsin
Unless it shows up on Cricinfo. :P

Or NewAgeBD, without any proper link or mention of authorship.

[Miraz]

The interview will be published soon as a BC article.

Some key points from the interview in advance for the members.

BanglaCricket : Seven years after awarding Test status, Bangladeshi batsmen are still struggling with technique and temperament. Don’t you think it was enough time to overcome the problem?
Aminul Islam Bulbul: Lack of competitive first class structure is the main reason behind the poor show of our batsmen in the Test arena. Cricket is a mental game; you need to develop required skill, determination and competitiveness from the domestic structure. We are severely lacking in that front. Until we revamp our domestic system we will continue our struggle in the Test arena. Moreover our team is young has got somewhat fragile mindset, they need a full time sports psychologist to cope with the pressures of international cricket. Sports psychology is a very important part of modern cricket that we have ignored till date.
BanglaCricket : We always hear about lack of structure of our domestic cricket. Can you shed some more light into it?
Aminul Islam Bulbul: When we played domestic cricket back in 1990’s, we had a very competitive limited over tournament. Players like Neil Fairbrother, Wasim Akram, and Arjuna Ranatunga regularly played club cricket in Bangladesh. It helped to raise our quality of cricket in one day format and with time we ended up as a good one day team. On the contrary, after gaining Test status, we failed to develop a competitive first class competition. National Cricket League, which is the only 4 day tournament in Bangladesh, is played in a picnic mood. There is lack of planning, facilities and overall format of the National Cricket League which is holding us back. A picnic style first class cricket can never make players ready for the challenges of Test cricket. For that very reason, we are not getting quality players from domestic circuit and are depending on age group players to carry us forward. This type of stop gap solution can only ruin the long term prospect of Bangladesh cricket.
Due to the flawed domestic structure, we do not have sufficient quality player in the pipeline. We don’t have a dedicated Academy team or A team, we are sharing players between the two teams which is not an ideal situation.

BanglaCricket : What are your suggestions to improve the first class cricket structure of Bangladesh?
Aminul Islam Bulbul: BCB must put proper emphasis on the domestic circuit and not the opposite. The cricket development committee should co-ordinate cricket throughout the country and it has to be decentralized through regional cricket centres. Bangladesh Cricket Board had a plan to establish Regional Cricket Centres even before gaining the elite status; we must establish them with proper facilities without any further delay. These regional centres will co-ordinate with District Cricket Associations and will ensure regular local leagues. They will also provide necessary training and facilities to the local authorities to run the show.
BCB should provide coach, physio and trainer for every first class team. They should be properly trained before assigning the responsibilities.
Each divisional team must have their own age group teams and A teams to make the players ready for the top level domestic cricket. In this way players will fight for their places in the first class team of the division and will develop the competitive attitude. I have witnessed this type of first class system in Australia, England and even Sri Lanka have the similar system.
One of the major strengths of Bangladesh cricket is School Cricket. About 1,000 schools participate in each year’s school cricket competition. We must introduce 2 day or 3 day competition for the school cricket. It is the perfect level to develop the temperament for the longer version matches.

BanglaCricket : Bangladesh is trying to emulate Australian Model for the last few years.
Aminul Islam Bulbul: I think it is not ideal for a country like Bangladesh to follow Australia as a model. We should follow Sri Lanka as our model. We must take technical input from Cricket Australia but follow Sri Lanka as a model country.
BanglaCricket : This is something new, everyone seems to be happy in following Australian model, any specific reason behind your difference of opinion?
Aminul Islam Bulbul: Definitely Australian model is the most ideal model for developing cricket in any country, but we have to keep in mind that we are a developing country. We can never provide similar infrastructure and facilities to our youngsters or regional teams. They have very different physical structure, fitness level, ground facilities and are a big spender on developing sports. For us it is almost next to impossible to emulate them properly. On the other hand, Sri Lanka is a sub-continental team, they share similar economic strength, culture and physical structure. They have got a very good domestic structure, very well managed with the limited resources they have. They are doing very well in both format of the game and I believe it would be ideal for Bangladesh to follow Sri Lanka as the role model.

There are much more thoughtful answers from Bulbul, wait until the article is published.

[Tigers_eye]

Thanks for keeping us in the fold. Looks like a good one coming up. Keep up the hard work. Miraz bhai.

[israr]

Awesome job Miraz bhai. Thanks once again for making us feel special!

[SS]

Bulbul mentioned that national league is played in picnic mood.
Fajlamir akta shima thake....playing cricket in picnic mood
amar matha gorom hoiya gese

[Miraz]

Originally Posted by SS
Bulbul mentioned that national league is played in picnic mood.
Fajlamir akta shima thake....playing cricket in picnic mood
amar matha gorom hoiya gese

Unfortunately that's true. I have got very similar impression after talking with a number of players who are currently playing at National Cricket League.

[FaridpurChicago]

Bhai Miraz, I'm eagerly waiting for your article as others although I'm not quite impressed with his idea about cricket. A lot of us can talk about cricketing infrastucture, domestic cricket etc to boost our cricket. There's no doubt about reconstructing these and you don't need to be a genius to say so. A genius is, who can say things that others can't, who can predict things that others can't and who can understand betterment that others can't.

Bulbul is still pretty much having his old frame of mind of "shomman jonok porajoy". He was furious on Faruq for not including Pilot in the world cup. He talked about his inclusion even after the world cup. He talked about including Kapali even. Listening to him will make us fight against Kenya as he/they used to do.

I wish he doesn't get a board job from his big mouth talking.

[Miraz]

Originally Posted by FaridpurChicago
Bhai Miraz, I'm eagerly waiting for your article as others although I'm not quite impressed with his idea about cricket. A lot of us can talk about cricketing infrastucture, domestic cricket etc to boost our cricket. There's no doubt about reconstructing these and you don't need to be a genius to say so. A genius is, who can say things that others can't, who can predict things that others can't and who can understand betterment that others can't.

Bulbul is still pretty much having his old frame of mind of "shomman jonok porajoy". He was furious on Faruq for not including Pilot in the world cup. He talked about his inclusion even after the world cup. He talked about including Kapali even. Listening to him will make us fight against Kenya as he/they used to do.

I wish he doesn't get a board job from his big mouth talking.

Well, I had a very similar mindset before talking with Bulbul. Fortunately I have got a very different picture of Bulbul during the interview. I hope reading the full interview will help in understanding his vision.

[Zunaid]

Originally Posted by Miraz
Well, I had a very similar mindset before talking with Bulbul. Fortunately I have got a very different picture of Bulbul during the interview. I hope reading the full interview will help in understanding his vision.

Now they can.

Published and available from the front page or article section. Good set of questions Miraz.

[Tigers_eye]

Picnic mode is created by the management and senior members i presume. Not the young ones. They are fighting for the place. Unless they have backing from the management of not being accountable.

[Sohel]

Bulbul knows what's going on, and will make a great coach in 5 years.

FYI: the reliable grapevine has it that he'll be a key component of the BCB think tank once 95% the current bunch of irreparably corrupt clowns are canned within a week or two before being hauled into jail en masse. That would be GREAT for the NCL, and subsequently our cricket as a whole.

[SS]

Originally Posted by Sohel NR
Bulbul knows what's going on, and will make a great coach in 5 years.

FYI: the reliable grapevine has it that he'll be a key component of the BCB think tank once 95% the current bunch of irreparably corrupt clowns are canned within a week or two before being hauled into jail en masse. That would be GREAT for the NCL, and subsequently our cricket as a whole.

If that is killing us..then let it be...but what if they come back again!!!

[Sohel]

Originally Posted by SS
If that is killing us..then let it be...but what if they come back again!!!

Never again. The changes are structural this time, not cosmetic, and the prison sentences long enough.

[kalpurush]

Originally Posted by Sohel NR
Bulbul knows what's going on, and will make a great coach in 5 years.

Agree with reasonable doubts!

[Eshen]

I have read Bulbul's interview with great interest. Thanks to Miraz for such an excellent piece.

My two cents on decentralization:

It does not make sense to me. For betterment of Bangladesh cricket, I believe we need a strong centralized professional league, and Dhaka premier league is currently serving that purpose. Bulbul himself said how DPL has helped us to gain international status. After all those years, DPL is still far far ahead of other leagues in the country in terms of popularity, competitiveness, organizational and financial strength.

Bulbul suggests us to follow the Sri Lankan model. Well, SL cricket thrives on a Colombo based club league and their board have no problem giving FC and List-A status to matches involving those clubs.The board had organized few provincial leagues in recent past, but after seeing how unpopular those leagues were, they abandoned the idea.

I don't think Bangladesh is big enough (unlike Australia or India) to be broken into regions. I don't see any problem cricketers, who want to take the sport as a profession, commuting to Dhaka even if they don't live there.

Regardless what a cricket crazy nation we are, I don't think we have the financial strength to support more than one professional league (Corporate league is a very relevant proof here). Also, by making the players play for three different teams in three different leagues (CCL, DPL, and NCL) in the same season, we are hampering the players from developing the sense of belonging to one team.

By ignoring the DPL (and trying to promote a picnic league according to Bulbul), BCB have actually weakened the strength of our domestic structure in last few years. What they need to do is to pour more money into DPL and ask the clubs to start a FC league in parallel to existing oneday and twenty20 leagues. Clubs should be also told to start age levels teams to groom talents.

One objection against DPL is that it has too many teams and teams such as Old DOHS and Indira Road have big strength difference. Well, this problem can be solved by breaking the teams into two tiers with promotion and relagation (like English county league).

This does not mean leagues outside Dhaka should be ignored. BCB should also make it a priority to revive leagues in places like Chittagong, Mymensingh, Khulna, Rajshahi, and Sylhet. If financially possible, BCB should encourage top clubs from those areas to join Dhaka first division and try to gain entry into DPL (like Young Pegasus from Rajshahi did).

BCB can also continue to run a league for division/district based teams excluding DPL players that will help them spot talents outside DPL.

PS: I was born and brought up in a city 200 km away from Dhaka. I can assure you that there is no reason to think I am emotionally biased towards our capital city.

[Eshen]

Bulbul finally found a decent job, but not from BCB.

AMINUL ISLAM IS NEW ACC DEVELOPMENT OFFICER

Aminul Islam, an international cricketer for Bangladesh for 17 years, has joined the ACC as their fifth Development Officer.

The countries under his remit as ACC Development Officer are Brunei, China and Myanmar. His first assignment is in Chongqing for the Chinese Cricket Association.

[Tigers_eye]

Nice interview. BCB had the plans for regional cricket improvement. No plan worth anything unless implemented properly. Our problem is honesty and transparancy. Any fund going to the regional cricket will be eaten up by the so called regional leaders. Sad!!!

I wish we can get bulbul some sort of coaching job on the age based teams. 18 months is too long not to get a response from BCB. If they don't want him they need to have the courtesy to say "no thanks".

[WarWolf]

Great interview. A good set of questions and thoughtful answers from Bulbul.