BCB ropes in ex-ICC ACU chief Alex Marshall to strengthen anti-corruption unit

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has appointed former ICC head of global cricket's Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) Alex Marshall as a consultant for one year to oversee the board's own ACU operations.

The decision was taken during a nearly six-hour meeting on Saturday at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, where several other key issues were also discussed.

"We appointed Alex Marshall for one year because we feel we need to enhance our ACU activities. They need to be more vigilant and receive more training," BCB media committee chairman Iftekhar Rahman told reporters after the meeting.

"We are receiving a lot of complaints regarding corruption. We cannot sit idle, so all we can do is increase our manpower, bring in a proper trainer, and strengthen our ACU activities - that is why we are appointing Alex for one year," he added.

"He worked with the ICC. We think our ACU needs strengthening, which is why we are bringing him in," said Iftekhar, also confirming that the ICC's integrity unit will monitor the upcoming Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).

"They call it the ICC integrity unit. They will run the next BPL," he said.

Fixing controversies have tarnished the BPL's reputation for years. Recently, the BCB formed an independent investigation committee to probe fixing allegations from the last edition of the tournament.

In other decisions, the BCB named Tony Hemming as head of turf management for two years. Dhaka Metro have been removed from the National Cricket League's (NCL) four-day competition and replaced by the newly formed Mymensingh Division. However, Dhaka Metro will still feature in the NCL T20 competition, which begins on September 14.

The board also dissolved its previous regional committee structure as part of a full reform.

"We want to cancel everything and create a new structure for the regional bodies," said BCB's Mahmudul Hasan Mithu.

BCB officials confirmed that legal action will be taken against all previous defaulters, including franchises and sponsors, as the board looks to resolve outstanding non-payment issues from last year.

"Teams, sponsors and others who didn't pay us properly - we will take legal action against them," said Iftekhar.

"This has become an embarrassing issue. We paid the drafted players, but now we are getting letters from directly signed players and coaches. We have decided to pay them," added Mithu.

The BCB also extended the contract of sports physiologist David Scott and approved a three-month deal for power-hitting coach Julian Wood.

However, the board could not finalise the event management company for the next edition of the BPL.

"A total of five interested companies applied for the event management of the BPL. We will finalise it within the next two to three days," said Iftekhar.