Minhajul Abedin, the chief selector of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), said starting domestic cricket is the first priority of the board in the post-COVID-19 era.

In a recent media release, BCB said they have prepared all the major cricketing venues so the cricketers can start preparation. However, the board is yet to give permission to start training.

“We're thinking to resume cricketing activities at the end of July or early August. If the coronavirus situation improves, there's a chance to resume training. We've prepared all the major venues of the country keeping this in mind,” Minhajul told the media.

“We can’t start international cricket right away after the COVID-19 situations. We've to play plenty of domestic cricket before going to play cricket on a bigger stage. So we are planning to start domestic cricket first,” he added.

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The last cricket match in Bangladesh took place on March 16 in the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League. Since then, all cricketing activities are on hold.

Bangladesh played their last international match on March 11 this year against Zimbabwe. Since then, Bangladesh’s 14 international matches were postponed due to the pandemic, that includes six Tests (three against Sri Lanka, two against Australia, one against Pakistan), four ODIs (three against Ireland, one against Pakistan) and four T20Is (all against Ireland).

While BCB is trying to resume cricketing activities in the country, international cricket is also around the corner to resume as Pakistan will take on the Netherlands in the maiden ODI of the tri-nation series, that also includes England, on July 4 at Amstelveen.