Australia’s tour of Bangladesh has been called off following high-level meetings about threats of militant attacks.
Cricket Australia announced that the two-Test series, slated to start on Saturday with a tour game, has been abandoned in the wake of the threats.
“Following the most recent information from Australian Government agencies and our own security advisors, we have decided that, regrettably, we have no alternative but to postpone the tour,” said chief executive James Sutherland.
“We have worked tirelessly to try to find a way for the tour to proceed, but in the end it was simply not possible. We understand that this decision will be very disappointing for the cricket community in Bangladesh. However, from an Australian perspective, the safety of our players and officials is our highest priority. We will work with the BCB to reschedule the tour as soon as possible.”
CA’s security staff briefed the board and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Wednesday, having returned from meetings in Bangladesh. DFAT cited intelligence about possible militant attacks on Australian interests in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has hosted Test cricket since 2000 without a major security incident and in a final attempt to persuade Cricket Australia to have a change of heart, Nazmul Hassan, the president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, revealed an unprecedented level of security for a touring nation would be supplied.
“We have left no stone unturned in providing assurance regarding security for the Australian team,” Hassan said in a statement on Wednesday. “The Bangladesh Government has committed additional security on top of the substantial and elaborate arrangements in the BCB’s standard Security Plan for international cricket. For the team [Australia] the level has been confirmed as VVIP which is equivalent to security accorded to head of states and is unprecedented for any international side.”
Australian football is also monitoring the situation, with the Socceroos scheduled to play Bangladesh in a World Cup qualifier in Dhaka on 17 November.
Australia’s Test squad have returned to state ranks for training and are now expected to feature in the domestic one-day tournament starting Monday in Sydney.
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