The Bangladesh Cricket Board on Thursday regretted the decision of Cricket Australia to postpone the two-Test series against Tigers for safety concern, saying it was sad and unfortunate.
‘Many countries now face these kinds of threat for terror attacks, but we don’t see cricket getting stopped. It is being played everywhere,’ BCB president Nazmul Hasan said at an impromptu press conference at his residence in Dhaka after CA had conveyed its decision.
‘The kind of security that we offered, blanket security, or VVIP security or state level security, I don’t see any chance of the matches getting interrupted after that. It was impossible.
‘If you see the history of Bangladesh, here these kinds of incident never happened and I don’t see any chance of it happening now.
‘If we were unprepared that is one thing. But having taken all kinds of precaution, there is no chance of anything happening in Bangladesh.
‘Still they postponed the tour, we are very sad for that. Bangladesh’s cricket was passing a very good time. At this point of time, this kind of development is sad, unfortunate,’ said Nazmul, surrounded by BCB directors.
The mood in BCB turned somber after CA informed the officials of its decision around 4:00pm dashing all hopes. The BCB was hoping a last-minute change in heart by the CA after it had delayed the decision.
But CA found no reason to proceed with the tour.
‘We had hoped that the security concerns would fade, but unfortunately the advice we have received from government… has clearly indicated that there are now high risks to our people should they make the trip,’ CA chief executive James Sutherland told reporters in Melbourne.
Nazmul argued that Bangladesh was not the only country at risk.
‘They have prepared a list and England is next to Bangladesh and then US. But did we see no sports taking place on those countries,’ he asked.
In the terror index we are at number 23. India is at number six. The first alert that Australia issued for Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka were at the same level.
‘Now there is no cricket in Pakistan, Are we going to stop cricket in Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka everywhere?’ questioned the BCB president, promising to raise the issue in next International Cricket Council meeting in Dubai later this month.
‘This is a major issue and I have to talk with ICC about it in the next meeting,’ he said.
The BCB president added that he will also discuss about rescheduling the series with his Australian counterpart on the sideline of ICC meeting, scheduled from October 9-13.
‘We will discuss how this series can be rescheduled. The kind of relationship that we have with cricket Australia, I am hopeful we will find a window…our main objective is how quick we can bring back cricket in Bangladesh,’ said the BCB president, who does not see a long-term impact of the decision.
‘This alert is up to mid October. It’s not for eternal period,’ he said.
-With New Age input
