The 25th season of the National Cricket League will begin on October 15 with a new structure as the tournament will scrap its two-tier format from the forthcoming edition.
The decision came following a meeting between Bangladesh Cricket Board鈥檚 tournament committee and technical committee on Tuesday.
The eight-team tournament was being played in a two-tier structure since the 2015-16 season, where four teams would play each other twice in each tier.
From this season on, all teams will take part in a league format, where they will play each other once, increasing the number of games for each team to seven, one more than the previous format.
鈥楾he NCL will begin on October 15 this year. The tournament used to be in a two-tier format. However, following unanimous approval, we have decided that it will be a single-tier league. Every team will play each other once,鈥� Minhajul Abedin, the BCB chief co-ordinator of programme, said on Tuesday.
Besides the new NCL, Minhajul also revealed that a domestic T20 tournament was in the works, and is only awaiting approval from the board.
鈥楾here has been a proposal of arranging a T20 tournament with the eight teams from NCL, which is waiting for the approval of the board. The selection panel of NCL will pick these teams. Everyone has agreed to it in the [technical committee] meeting,鈥� he said.
鈥榃e have been thinking about a domestic T20 tournament for a long time because the Bangladesh Premier League is a franchise tournament with overseas players. So, a tournament for local players was necessary. The tournament will feature the NCL teams and around 130 cricketers will get the chance to play, which would allow us to fill the gaps we have in this format.鈥�
The T20 tournament is set to be held between the NCL and the BPL, meaning the Bangladesh Cricket League, the country鈥檚 other first-class tournament, will be shifted to April-May from 2025, which is being done to adjust players to playing red-ball cricket under the heat, which the national team often has to do.
