BCB launches women's first-class tournament with an eye on Test cricket

The Bangladesh cricket board (BCB) is launching a first-class competition for women from December 21 in Rajshahi in an attempt to expedite the women's team's Test debut.
The Women's Bangladesh Cricket League (WBCL) will involve four teams - South, North, East and Central, who will take on each other in four rounds of three-day matches, reports Cricbuzz.
South will take on East while Central will lock horns with North in the opening round, scheduled at two venues in Rajshahi. In the second round games scheduled from December 26-28, South will take on North while Central will take on East. The other two rounds will be completed following the return of the Bangladesh women's team from West Indies.
Bangladesh women were granted Test status along with Afghanistan and Zimbabwe in 2021 after the International Cricket Council (ICC) decided to award all their full member women teams Test and ODI status permanently. However, the Bangladesh women's team is yet to feature in Tests as their participation is limited to white-ball cricket. BCB's women's wing head Habibul Bashar told the online sports portal on Thursday that they are aiming to launch the three-day competition for women with an eye to prepare them for Test cricket. "If we want to play Tests, we need to play first-class matches and so you can say this is our first step towards that direction," said Habibul.
The maiden WBCL was played in 2023 as a two-day tournament but this time around, the board is keen to see how the women perform in a three-day match.
"I think our girls need to adapt with three day cricket if they want to play longer version at international level and if they can continue to develop in this format, surely we will be able to compete in Test cricket," Habibul said.