Former Bangladesh cricketer Enamul Haque Jr stepped down as president of the Sylhet Cricketers Association citing discontent with Sylhet's first division league doubled with personal reasons on Sunday. 

The 37-year-old underlined he was unable to work freely while trying to improve the standard of Sylhet's first-division league. 

Enamul said that despite repeated attempts, the status quo remained unchanged in the last couple of years.

"First of all, I was unable to give enough time since my family moved to the UK which is the major reason for me to step down," Enamul told The Daily Star on Sunday.

"We fought for a better league in Sylhet last year but despite our attempts, the standard of cricket remained low and I was unable to do anything from my end. So, I want a new leadership to take the responsibility.

"A couple of editions were organised after our protests for the introduction of a relegation system in the league. The standard of the league, however, remained low this time and there was no significant change," Enamul added.

In 2023, players from Sylhet protested and even announced to boycott of all forms of cricket in the region if their demand for a round-robin league system along with the introduction of the relegation league was not met.

"Those who are involved in conducting the Sylhet league tend to keep hold of their position in order to take personal and political advantage. I am not willing to take such an advantage since I don't need it. I wanted the standard of cricket to be improved. Teams can't even field eleven players in games. We even witnessed nine players playing in a match where teams got bundled out for just 40-50 runs," Enamul said.

In recent years, Sylhet has been well-known for producing a fair share of the country's leading pacers like Ebadot Hossain, Khaled Ahmed and Abu Jayed, all of whom have already made their mark in Tests.

The former left-arm spinner urged the authority to put more emphasis on the improvement of cricket in Sylhet and hoped that the Bangladesh Cricket Board would take necessary steps to revive cricket in the region.