With the successful end to the international season, the national selectors were now focusing their attention on strengthening domestic cricket.

The Bangladesh selectors will play a role in the picking the final teams of the six divisions in the upcoming fifth National Cricket League.

The country's only first-class competition involving six divisions Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Barisal and Sylhet, is scheduled to begin from February 7 at three different venues across the country.

"We will not be directly involved with the selection procedure but we will advice the respective divisions to make some changes if it was found that certain players who have the quality, have been kept out of teams. To ensure maximum competitiveness, the best possible squads should be selected for this domestic competition," said chief selector Faruque Ahmed.

Faruque added that the board was keen to improve the standard of the competition as it was the lone four-day event.

"If we want to improve our standard at the international level we should make the domestic tournaments more competitive. We feel that a player should at least have Premier League experience to be considered eligible for the National League but if there are any extraordinary young talents, they should be considered also," said the former national skipper.

The fifth edition of the national league will retain last year's format which means a one-day match will be followed by the four-day fixture.

Dhaka, the holders of the four-day championship, will meet Sylhet at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in one of the three matches on the inaugural day.

Rajshahi will host Chittagong,

defending champions of the one-day competition, while Khulna take on Barisal at their own ground in the day's other fixtures.

But already the league stands to lose a lot of its charm as most leading players will miss the majority of matches. The Bangladesh A team is now on a 42-day tour to UAE and Zimbabwe while a number of star names will leave for India in just under three weeks to play in the Duleep Trophy competition.

The selectors will announce a 15-member Bangladesh Cricket Board squad for the first class competition soon. Some fringe players and a few out-of-favour cricketers like Al-Shahriar, Hannan Sarker and Naimur Rahman are expected to be picked for the BCB team.

"We have decided to form the side with a mixture of young players and experienced campaigners who are now out of the main fold but have a good chance of returning to the Bangladesh team. We will also consider the performances in the recently concluded Premier League," informed Faruque.

Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore is expected to accompany the team which will leave Dhaka on February 20.

The BCB selection will play their first match against East Zone on February 25 and their next game is against Central Zone on March 1.