Bangladesh's domestic season is set for a delayed start after members of the governing council of the National Cricket League (NCL) decided to reschedule the first match of the league to October 20. The league, which was initially supposed to begin on October 14, will see a hike in the players' match fees, with members of the playing eleven expected to receive Tk 40,000 per match. The match fee in the previous year's edition wasTk20,000.

"We decided to increase the match fee as we want players to fight for a

place in the final eleven and thereby increase competition. The match fee will be given by the respective franchisees," said Mahbubul Anam, Convenor of the Governing Council. The 12th and 13th players enlisted in the team will receive one-third of the match fee, while the 14th player will getTk 10,000 per match. He further stated that the league was delayed due to various constraints that the Bangladesh Cricket Board faced while adopting a 'franchisee' model for the NCL.

Anam also confirmed that all the eight divisions will be participating in this year's league.

"Four of the eight divisions are scheduled to receive franchisees. We

are trying to get more companies to invest. The teams which don't get franchisees will be run by their respective divisions," said Anam.

Prime Bank Foundation and Walton Hi-Tech Industries Limited are the only organisations to have received franchisee rights in the NCL so far. The companies will have to pay a yearly amount of Tk 50 lakh to maintain their rights. BCB stated that apart from the annual payment, the franchisees are expected to spend an approximate amount ofTk 2 crore.

As for the extent of control over the management of the divisions, Anam stated that the governing council has set up terms and conditions, based on which

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the franchisees and members of the different divisions will operate the teams. "These conditions will be elaborated after a meeting with the president (AHM Mustafa Kamal)," said Anam.

The scheduled day-night matches -- the first and the final match of the league - are however in doubt, as the BCB still hasn't managed to acquire the special balls needed for day-night first-class cricket. "We have to play with cricketing balls that are internationally recognised. We are planning to get good quality balls from England before the beginning of the league," said Hafiz Joarder, member secretary of the BCB's tournament committee.

Each team will be allowed to field two overseas first-class cricketers per game.