The Bangladesh Cricket Board expects to fulfil all requirements when the International Cricket Council security official begins a 10-day visit next week to assess their security plan ahead of the ICC World Twenty20 in March-April, BCB officials said on Wednesday.
ICC security manager Sean Morris is expected to arrive in Dhaka on January 13 for an extensive look into the details of the security plan for the ICC event, scheduled from March 16 to April 6 in Bangladesh.
In addition, Morris will also go through the BCB’s security plan taken for the upcoming home series against Sri Lanka. That series is expected to start on January 27 and will feature two Test matches, three one-day internationals and two Twenty20 internationals.
‘We are hopeful to satisfy the ICC officials with our security plan,’ BCB security head Hossain Imam told New Age on Wednesday.
‘We have taken measures to cover all aspects of security in our plan that we expect to execute,’ said Imam.
Two Sri Lanka Cricket officials are expected to join Morris during his visit to take his findings into account before reporting to their board. With the security issue still unresolved, the SLC is still undecided about going through with the tour.
Morris will be present during the ICC security coordination meeting, scheduled to be held in Dhaka on January 20, where participants will be briefed on the BCB security plan.
Though the BCB has yet to receive confirmation about all the guests expected to arrive during the ICC security coordination meeting, it was confirmed that the Pakistan Cricket Board would also send a representative.
The Press Trust of India reported on Wednesday that the Pakistan Cricket Board had made it clear their team would participate in the Asia Cup in Bangladesh only after getting clearance from their government due to security concerns in the violence-hit neighbouring country.
The PCB statement came after the chief executive of the Asian Cricket Council Ashraful Huq told the media after a Board meeting that all the participating nations had no issues with playing in the Asia Cup and it would be held as scheduled from February 16.
But the PCB chairman, Najam Sethi, negated the remarks from the ACC official.
‘After the ACC meeting, I saw a lot of media statements from various quarters, especially the ACC chief executive, which tend to suggest that the PCB, along with other participating countries, does not have any reservations regarding Pakistan team’s participation in the Asia Cup in Bangladesh,’ Sethi said.
‘This is obviously contrary to the position conveyed by our COO Subhan Ahmad at the ACC meeting. The PCB does have reservations on the prevailing security situation in Bangladesh with specific reference to Pakistan.
‘Indeed, that is why PCB has decided to send its security representative to Bangladesh to attend the ICC security meeting on January 20 to assess the situation there and report back,’ Sethi said.
The two cricket boards have not had very good relations since 2010, when Bangladesh after agreeing to tour Pakistan for a short one-day series pulled out at the last moment due to security concerns and a high court restraining order.
The PCB after a year again accused the BCB of backing out from a commitment to play in Pakistan.
Sethi said that while Pakistan remained keen to play in the regional tournament, in which India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are also participanting, it could not do so without first getting government clearance.
‘We will continue to assess the conditions and liaise with the government and follow its advice with regard to the security situation. Our participation would be dependent upon the reports that we receive in this regard,’ he said.
-With New Age input
