Bangladesh surprised at Australian delay

The BCB has expressed surprise at Cricket Australia’s decision to delay its team’s departure for the tour of Bangladesh. The Australian board had been in touch with the BCB on Friday night ESPNcricinfo has learned, informing the BCB of the Australian government’s latest travel advisory and asking it to look into the situation in Bangladesh.

The BCB said it found no such alert raised for Australians within Bangladesh, and it conveyed the message to CA, adding that there has been no major incident of political violence in the country since March this year. The BCB said it found it surprising that CA decided to delay the tour so quickly after that exchange.

The BCB’s chairman of the media committee, Jalal Yunus, said he hoped things will be sorted out quickly and the delay will not last too long.

“We are very surprised that CA have given this media release. There is no violence in the country, no alerts in the county. We appreciate that they have some concerns though. CA head of security Sean Carrol is coming to Dhaka tomorrow afternoon and he is going to go through the security arrangements. I’m hopeful the tour will take place and there will be no long delay.”

Yunus maintained that this is a peaceful time in Bangladesh, and the country had successfully hosted international series previously when in much greater turmoil. He said: “It is a good time for Bangladesh because it’s the [Eid] holidays and the people were waiting expectantly for the Australian team’s arrival and the Test series.

“The situation was far worse at the end of 2014, and we had also hosted the World T20 and the Asia Cup [in early 2014] just after a lot of political violence. This is a very peaceful time though.”

Zimbabwe had toured Bangladesh between October and December 2014 without incident. The security situation with regards to political violence escalated in early 2015, but Pakistan, Indian and South Africa have toured this year, all without incident.

In a release, BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury said Australia putting their players’ safety first was “understandable”, but as far as the BCB is concerned, there is no cause for worry.

“As the DFAT advisory update was issued only yesterday, therefore CA wishes to gather more information before the arrival of the team which is understandable,” Chowdhury said. “There is no alarm regarding security as far as we are concerned, and we have taken the opinion of all relevant agencies because safety of the Australian team is our priority, as it is with all visiting teams to Bangladesh.

“CA has stated its commitment to the series already in a media release, and we are confident that the tour will commence with minimum delay.”