New Zealand will be the first team to arrive in the capital to feature in the Wills International Cup cricket tournament, scheduled to start at the Bangabandhu National Stadium from October 24.
The Kiwis, slated to meet Zimbabwe in the opening match, will arrive in the city on October 17. Test babes Zimbabwe will fly into Dhaka on October 20. All the nine Test-playing nations are to participate in the 10-day long knock-out contest.
Details of the tournament were disclosed by the general secretary of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), Syed Ashraful Huq, who on his return from Calcutta met newsmen at the BCB office last evening.
The BCB general secretary, who along with his president Saber Hossain Chowdhury MP, went to the Indian city Saturday to attend the official launching ceremony of the unique event on, also said that the Board is expecting a payoff of more than Taka one and a half crore from the tournament, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to raise fund for its world-wide development programme.
World champions Sri Lanka, who will take on the winners of the New Zealand and Zimbabwe match in the second quarter-final on October 26, will arrive in Dhaka five days before their fixture.
Former world champions West Indies and the disciplined South Africa will arrive on October 22. India will disembark on October 25 while their perennial foes Pakistan and Australia, who will play their last Test at Karachi from October 22-26, will fly in on October 27.
Of the nine participating nations, only England are yet to confirm their arrival schedule.
Although Bangladesh will not be part of the 400,000-dollar tournament, the ICC Trophy champions will play a couple of One-Day Internationals against the losing sides of the first and third match of the ten-day meet.
Bangladesh will play its first ODI on October 26 and the second on October 29. Both the matches will be held outside Dhaka.
``We have prepared four venues for those matches. They are Rajshahi, Sylhet, Chittagong and Mymensingh. But things will be settled after the recommendation from Ranjan Madhugale'', said Ashraful. The former Sri Lankan Test cap, who will be one of the match referees of the knock-out tournament, will visit Bangladesh sometimes next month to assess the ground conditions of those venues before making a final recommendation to the games ruling body.
Ashraful also disclosed that the president of the ICC Jogmohan Dalmiya and chief executive David Richards will arrive in Dhaka on September 12. During his brief stay the ICC supremo will oversee the preparations of the event. Mr. Dalmiya will also address a press conference prior to his departure on September 13. Former Pakistan skipper Asif Iqbal, the event manager, will arrive in the capital on September 11.