Kolkata: The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) has retained their star-studded cricket development committee led by former India skipper Sourav Ganguly even as it met only twice in previous two seasons with little success.
CAB supremo Jagmohan Dalmiya on Wednesday informed that Ganguly would continue to be the chairman of the committee that also stars yesteryears cricketers Arun Lal, Ashok Malhotra and Pranab Roy.
"The committee did not meet much in the last two years. It`s not a healthy thing. They all were busy with their respective commitments, but that did not mean the committee was neglected. It is here to work and it can give tremendous results," Dalmiya said after the season`s first working committee meeting.Back from his commentary assignment in England, Ganguly who represents Barisha SC at the working committee was conspicuous by his absence.
Dalmiya further announced that the proposed new academy, to be named as Bengal Cricket Academy, will be opened in Kalyani on September 4.
"This will be the first academy in the state," Dalmiya said.
There was a surprise inclusion of Jeet Banerjee, who heads a city-based sports marketing firm, into coaching sub-committee.
Asked about his inclusion, CAB joint secretary Biswarup Dey said, "He runs a club (Kalighat) in the maidan... so what`s wrong in him being named in the coaching subcommittee."
Bengal skipper Manoj Tiwary was also included into the cricket sub-committee to be chaired by Ranjit Roy, who headed the statistical sub-committee last season.
Gautam Dasgupta was co-opted into the working committee, while Surajit Naskar and A S Subramaniam were made the assistant secretaries.Samir Dasgupta was made chairman of the school sub-committee, while Sambhu Nath Poddar replaced Ranjit Roy in the statistical sub-committee.
CAB however is yet to decide on four sub-committees - senior selection, junior selection, women selection and women cricket.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, August 24, 2011, 21:52