BCB slaps strict rules for red, green zones during training

Md Abu Talha Sarker, Dhaka:Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has divided Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium (SBNCS) and its surrounding sports facilities — National Cricket Academy (NCA) Ground, Gymnasium, and Indoors — into red zones and green zones in order to ensure the safety of the upcoming intense residential training camp for the Tigers.

Players, coaching staff are in the green zone while officials, groundsmen, security personnel, and other employees of the BCB are in the red zone. No one from the red zone is allowed to enter the green zone and vice versa.

Witnessing the coronavirus situation in and around the world especially the deadly situation of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Indian Premier League (IPL) along with the recent coronavirus cases in players, coaching staffers, and officials of Bangladesh cricket, the BCB was almost forced to impose the zoning mechanism to stymie the spread of the COVID-19.

A senior cricketer along with a coaching staff (trainer) was tested positive for coronavirus in the first-phase test that hastened them to impose the new mechanism with limited restrictions so that it could not foretell the spread further in the team, who has been preparing themselves for the tour of Sri Lanka in a gingerly manner since July 19 though both the player and trainer finally tested negative after a week of being infected by the newly-emerged deadly virus.

The team-wise and closed-door training camp scheduled to get underway from September 21 with only corona negative players hailed from the second-phase corona test. The players have to get through a four-phased corona test, the last two of the tests will be held within a week before their departure for the island nation which will be mandatory for them to prove themselves corona negative to board the Lanka-bound flight on September 27.

“The real rigidity of the zoning mechanism will be started when the team-wise intense training will kick-off. No one will be allowed to enter into the Green Zone from the Red Zone or outside of the zone. The rules will strictly be followed,” BCB Chief Physician Dr Debashis Chowdhury said.

It is learnt from the BCB insiders that the BCB had no plan to impose any rigidity at the Home of Cricket in their initial plan. They decided to introduce zoning thereby gradually increasing rigidity among the players, coaching staff and officials gradually.

“We have started imposing the zoning mechanism two weeks before the start of the residential camp. We do not have much resources and the ability to handle so many people for so long. Therefore, we wanted to take the stricter steps gradually,” Dr Chowdhury told The Independent.

It may be mentioned that some issues of Tigers’ tour of Sri Lanka are yet to be settled between the boards particularly over the duration of the quarantine. The Sri Lankan Cricket (SLC) earlier informed the BCB that the period of quarantine must be for fourteen days. But the BCB informed the SLC over their inability to quarantine themselves for more than seven days.