England to go ahead with Bangladesh tour

London (AFP) – England are to go ahead with their tour of Bangladesh, the England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed Thursday.

“We can confirm that @englandcricket’s tour of Bangladesh will continue as planned,” said a statement on the ECB’s official Twitter feed.

The future of the tour was thrown into doubt when an attack in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, saw 20 hostages killed, including nine Italian citizens, with the Islamic State group claiming responsibility.

An ECB delegation led by led by security adviser Reg Dickason, accompanied by director of cricket operations John Carr and David Leatherdale of the Professional Cricketers’ Association recently visited Bangladesh to make their own security assessment.

Following their return, the ECB said Thursday that the three one-day internationals and two Tests which England are due to play in Bangladesh in October and November before heading to India were set to go ahead as scheduled.

England players — including Test captain Alastair Cook and One-Day captain Eoin Morgan — received a briefing Thursday from longstanding security chief Dickason, accompanied by ECB director of cricket Andrew Strauss, Leatherdale and Carr, as well as Tom Harrison, the ECB chief executive.

Following the meeting Strauss, a former England captain, said: “England’s tour of Bangladesh will continue as planned.

“Safety and security of players and management are always paramount. We’ve received a thorough risk assessment, had excellent insight into the current situation and been fully briefed on security commitments.

“The ECB and PCA have the utmost confidence in the advice and support we’ve been given.”

Strauss added: “Tonight (Thursday) we discussed details with the players and management in an open meeting.

“They asked lots of questions, have time to ask more and will clearly want to take it all in — we understand that.

“Selection for the tour will be made after the end of the (English) summer internationals (in September).

“We will, as always, continue to monitor the situation right up to and throughout the tour.” 

England are due to arrive in Bangladesh on September 30, with their schedule also including three warm-up matches. one before the ODIs and two ahead of the Tests.

They are set to leave Bangladesh on November 2 ahead of a five-Test series in India starting the following week.

Australia cancelled their tour of Bangladesh in October for security reasons and then withdrew their side from the Under-19 World Cup in the country at the start of this year. England, however, fielded a team at the youth event.