Mohammad Mithun walked out of the BCB Academy building in Mirpur on Thursday evening with garlands around his neck and a small crowd of players around him.

A smile gave it away long before the formal announcement: he had been elected president of the Cricketers’ Welfare Association of Bangladesh (CWAB).

The vote itself was a landmark. Since CWAB’s birth in 2004, positions had always been filled uncontested. This time, the presidency went to a ballot.

Out of 215 registered voters, 190 cast ballots either online or in person. Two were declared invalid. Mithun took 154 of the remaining votes, comfortably ahead of former cricketer and referee Salim Shahed, who finished with 34.

“I see CWAB and the BCB as part of one family,” Mithun told reporters afterwards. “The board is our guardian. If we have concerns, we should be able to raise them. And I hope the board will listen positively. My aim is to spread CWAB’s activities beyond Dhaka, so every cricketer feels this body is theirs.”

Most other posts were filled without contest. Shahriar Hossain was confirmed as senior vice-president, and current wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan as vice-president. Among the executive members are Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Rumana Ahmed, Khaled Mashud and Imrul Kayes.

The result ends the long tenure of Naimur Rahman and Debabrata Paul, who led CWAB for more than a decade before stepping aside last year, in the wake of the July Uprising.

Mithun now takes over at a time when cricketers, perhaps more than ever, are looking for their collective voice to be heard.