Women join Bangladesh’s bowler hunt

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is set to search for new bowling talent in women's cricket as well as men's Cricket with return of the Robi Bowler Hunt programme after nearly eight years. For the first time, female pacers and spinners will be selected alongside male bowlers under the same programme. 

Sponsored by Robi, the month-long talent hunt will begin in all divisional cities across the country in the last week of this month. One of the key aims of the programme will be to identify future bowling talents who can follow in the footsteps of Jahanara Alam, Marufa Akter, Rumana Ahmed and Nahida Akter.

Bangladesh cricket was once known mainly for producing spinners. The rise of fast bowlers in the country has also been influenced by previous bowler hunt programmes. The first nationwide pace bowling talent search was launched in 2004 under the initiative of late BCB Development Committee chairman Arafat Rahman Koko, with sponsorship from Grameenphone.

Rubel Hossain emerged from that programme and went on to represent Bangladesh for many years after making his international debut in 2007.

Later, between 2014 and 2019, BCB organised two pace bowling hunts and two spin bowling hunts with the support of Robi. Those programmes helped discover pacers such as Ebadat Hossain and Khaled Ahmed, while leg-spinner Rishad Hossain also came through the system.

For this year's edition, each venue will feature a technical panel consisting of BCB coaches, selectors and established bowlers. BCB will also provide the necessary technological support, including bowling machines and speed guns.

After a long break, the board is now aiming to identify future bowling talents for both men's and women's cricket through the revived programme. 

The details of the initiative will be announced at a press conference at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium at 3pm on Tuesday.