The angry winds continued to blow for a few days before it died down and it was business as usual for the players, who are looking for a way out.

And the ideal platform to correct their flaws was to return to the domestic scene. The cricketers duly obliged and a number of them took part in a crucial match of the National Cricket Championship, the third biggest local tournament fixture, at Mymensingh on Monday.

But there was no respite for them as they came face to face with the reality of another sub-standard wicket.

"It will be flukish to come up with a good performance at the highest level after playing domestic cricket on such awful pitches," Bangladesh's top Test batsman Habibul Bashar told The Daily Star Sport yesterday.

The experienced campaigner battled his way to a match-winning unbeaten 46-run knock for Comilla against Chittagong but found batting a torrid test rather than pleasure.

"It was a worst possible track. You could hardly read the ball. Most of the times the ball kept outrageously low and all of a sudden it would pop up from nowhere," said the right-hander.

Bashar thought that such tracks were seriously detrimental for unearthing fresh talents.

"It's flabbergasting how matches of a competition of such stature could be played on a wicket like that. You can't expect new players to develop this way," Bashar added.

Former national skipper Akram Khan, who played for losers Chittagong, also echoed the same sentiment.

"The wicket was unbelievably slow and low. The outfield also resembled a paddy field. It is unwise to arrange national competitions on a ground like this," said Akram who scored a painstaking 26 off 71 balls.

While criticism came from the country's top batsmen, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB)'s advisor and tournament committee chairman Shah Nurul Kabir Shaheen took a totally different stance.

"I was present during the match and I feel that the players have no right to blame the pitch. Rather it was them who paid the price for playing cross-batted shots. The pitch was far better than it was during previous occasions," claimed Shaheen, who is also a Member of Parliament.

Shaheen was the key figure behind the controversial transformation of the four-day first class national championship to a one-day competition. Last season, the BNP lawmaker also shockingly decided to bring all the games of the National League to Dhaka by ignoring the call of the country's cricket fraternity of decentralising the game.

Shaheen had defended the decision by saying that wickets outside Dhaka were below standard and had vowed to improve the pitches before any more national level competitions are held away from the capital. But a year on, nothing seems to have changed.

His observations were also contradicted by the person most qualified to comment on the pitch issue, BCB's grounds committee member secretary Rafiqul Islam Babu.

"The local authority had assured us that they had the capability to prepare a good wicket. But they have failed. I have to admit it was not correct of us to entirely depend on them," said Babu.

The track at Mymensingh, which has traditionally been a rich cricket venue, was an eye-opener in terms of wickets on offer around the country and Babu is already concerned about holding the next high-profile competition, the four-day National League.

The tournament committee is thinking to start the League at six venues across the country from December 5 but preparations have not been ideal.

"Two of our venues at Barisal and Rangpur are not ready. Besides, International Cricket Council's pitch consultant Andy Atkinson has requested us to avoid the venues that will be used for the ICC Youth World Cup. This is a cause for concern but we are hopeful," said Babu.