Daily Times

DHAKA: The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Tuesday dismissed allegations from a players’ body that its international cricketers have not been paid all their prize money. The Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) said in a report that the Bangladesh players have not been paid their share of the prize money from events organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The BCB said it has often given additional incentives to its cricketers, topping up what has been due to them from the ICC prize money. “The BCB has completed prize money payment to players from all previous ICC events including the last, which was the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 in England and Wales,” the board said in a statement.

In its ‘Men’s Global Employment Report 2020’, FICA also listed the Bangladesh Premier League as one of the events where players have faced payment issues. The first few editions of the BPL, which started in 2012, were marred by irregular payments to players but the BCB subsequently restructured the payment system to address the problems. “… the only unresolved/disputed payment from the BPL concerns four persons – three overseas players and a coach, of one particular team that had participated in the sixth edition of the BPL held in 2018,” the BCB said. “This is an isolated case in a tournament where more than 170 local and overseas players and support staff were contracted.”

The BCB said it has also initiated legal proceedings against the team, which it did not name, to clear pending payments and resolve the issue. The FICA report also listed unresolved payment issues in Twenty20 and 10-overs leagues in several minor cricket-playing nations including Canada, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.