Calcutta: There is nothing wrong in the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) organising a trial camp for the Bengal U-14 boys. However, it is their execution of the plan which has gone horribly wrong and is raising eyebrows.
In their bid to hastily arrange a camp for the talented young players, the association has created a harakiri of sorts. From keeping the players in a dingy Central Avenue hotel, to making the 12-13 year-olds like Suvodeep Sen, Roshan Roy, Mrinmoy Mahato go through paces in scorching heat at the JU, Salt Lake campus ground, one cannot really understand how all these will help the players.
Although the Board of Control for Cricket in India doesn’t have any U-14 tournament, the CAB is planning to have its own pool of U-14 players who, in two years time, will be ready to represent Bengal in the national U-16 tournament.
Also the trials are being conducted as CAB will participate in an U-14 Invitational tournament in Cuttack from June 7-14. “The players are given a maximum of 10-12 minutes to bat and the trials are over. They are kids. One should try and be fair with them. Can you judge them after watching them play only 10-12 deliveries. Also the heat and humidity is taking a toll on their health as the practice starts around 9am and ends at around 12 noon. These boys from districts have never been exposed to systematic training. Their bodies are not responding to extreme conditions,” one of the coaches accompanying the district boys said.
A boy from Cooch Behar, who appeared for trials on Wednesday, suffered from dehydration.
Also one can’t but spare a thought for the shabby hotel where the outstation boys have been put up. Each small room is shared by four or more boys. To complicate matters, there’s no attached toilet.
Biswarup Dey, the CAB joint secretary said: “Since, it’s a Bengal trial, we decided to put them up in that hotel. Also it’s difficult to start the trials before 9am as some of the city boys won’t be able to report by that time.”
Former Bengal captain Gopal Bose, who is one of the coaches, feels that starting the camp from 6:30am would have been perfect. “A 6:30am start would have been perfect but something has been started in the right earnest. Things will fall in place with passage of time,” he said.
