Bangladesh is set to launch its inaugural three-day women's cricket competition, the Women's Bangladesh Cricket League (WBCL), which will kick off on December 21 at two venues in Rajshahi. This tournament follows last year's initial red-ball edition, which featured two-day games. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has organized this event as a stepping stone to building the country's first-ever Test team, although there is no official timeline yet for when Bangladesh will play its first Test match.
Habibul Bashar, the head of women's cricket at the BCB, emphasized the need to prepare players for red-ball cricket. "Most of our female cricketers have little experience with the red ball, as domestic cricket is predominantly white-ball," he explained. "They have only played a few red-ball games. We aim to apply for first-class status as we have everything required for this format."
The tournament will feature four teams based on regional groups: North, South, East, and West. Captains for these teams include Nigar Sultana, Fahima Khatun, Rabeya Khan, and Sobhana Mostary. Bashar praised the BCB's initiative, highlighting the challenge of starting such a competition, particularly with the West Indies tour coming up next month. To accommodate this, the tournament will hold four matches in December, with the rest to be played in January.
This marks the second edition of the WBCL, following the two-day format played in 2023. Bangladesh, which gained Full Member status in women's cricket in 2021 alongside Afghanistan (which has no women's national team) and Zimbabwe, is now joining other nations with multi-day women's cricket, such as India’s Senior Women's Inter Zonal Multi-Day Trophy and Australia’s recent three-day trial games for their red-ball team.
Updated on 14th December, 2024 by MyFortune11 Team