Doubts cast on Bangladesh tour as Australian officials return without taking concrete decision
Fresh doubts were cast on Australia’s tour to Bangladesh with Cricket Australia (CA) officials set to return to their home country without taking any concrete decision on the matter, cricket.com.au reports. Following high-level meetings with Bangladeshi intelligence officials, they will brief the concerned authorities and players upon their arrival at Melbourne.
Australia are scheduled to play Bangladesh in a two-match Test series in October but had put the tour on hold on Saturday, delaying the departure of the touring party citing reliable information that terrorists might be planning to carry out attacks on them. CA's Head of Security Sean Carroll, Australian team manager Gavin Dovey and team security manager Frank Dimasi had travelled to Bangladesh and carried out several meetings with various security and intelligence authorities.
The trio are set to return to Melbourne but a statement by a spokesman for CA didn’t exude much confidence for those hoping that the tour will go ahead as scheduled.
"(There is) no change to our position on the matter,” the CA spokesman said. “Following yesterday's meetings, our Head of Security, team manager and team security manager are on their way home from Bangladesh for further meetings with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and to brief our Board, Management and players on the situation.”
Adding to the doubts was the United Kingdom government issuing a similar travel advisory to its citizens, along the lines of the one issued by DFAT on Saturday.
"UK officials have been advised to limit attendance at events where westerners may gather. You should be particularly vigilant at this time," Britain's Foreign Office warned.
Bangladesh confident about the tour going ahead as scheduled
Bangladesh meanwhile are confident that the tour will go ahead as scheduled and assured fool-proof security to the visiting Australian side. They, in fact, named the squad for the first Test which is set to begin on October 9 and have started the media accreditation process as well.
BCB chief executive Nizam Uddin Chowdhury, talking about the series, said: "(I am) expecting all the matches to be played on schedule. We will try to have the main matches of the tour be played as scheduled because there is plenty of planning that goes behind each international match. We haven't discussed any issue with regards to Chittagong as a venue. We have confirmed the facilities which will be given to them in Dhaka will also be given to them in Chittagong."
BCB president Nazmul Hasan also echoed similar thoughts and used the 2014 T20 World Cup staged by the Asian country as proof that they would be able to successfully stage the tour without any security concerns.
"We've told them that the cricketers will get VVIP security," Hasan told reporters following meetings with CA's delegation. We also told them, by way of example, about the measures taken during the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh," Nazmul said.