adminMELBOURNE. – Australia’s Test cricketers have been sent back to their home states to train while awaiting a decision on whether their tour of Bangladesh will proceed amid increasing security concerns.
The team was scheduled to depart on Monday for a two-Test series but was told to stay back after the Australian government warned of a potential security risk from militants in the Asian nation.
A security delegation sent by Cricket Australia to Bangladesh over the weekend has since returned home and was to report to local authorities yesterday, prompting speculation the tour will be cancelled.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has offered a higher level of security for Australia’s players and urged the tour to go ahead.
But at the same time the Australian security delegation was in the country, an Italian aid worker in Dhaka was shot dead in an attack claimed by Islamic State.
“The situation is now different after the death of the Italian national,” BCB president Nazmul Hassan Hassan told reporters in Dhaka on Tuesday.
“The UK and US governments have also given out alerts. This is a very rare incident in Bangladesh but one has to understand the difference between this and a cricket team that is given blanket security.”
Australia captain Steven Smith, wicketkeeper Peter Nevill and spinner Nathan Lyon were among those who turned out for training for New South Wales state yesterday ahead of a domestic one-day tournament.
Fast bowler Peter Siddle and all-rounder Glenn Maxwell had also returned to training in Melbourne, a Cricket Victoria spokesman said.
A decision on whether the tour will go ahead has to be made soon because Australia is scheduled to host New Zealand in a three-Test series, starting in early November.
The security concerns in Bangladesh could also impact on Australia’s qualifying campaign for the soccer World Cup.
Australia are due to play a return qualifier in Bangladesh in November after beating the southern Asians in Perth earlier this month.
Football Federation Australia said they were closely monitoring the situation in Bangladesh and seeking advice from security experts and government authorities.
Meanwhile, the declining fortunes of West Indies cricket hit a new low yesterday when the Caribbean team failed to qualify for the 2017 Champions Trophy in England.
Restricted to the world’s top eight-ranked sides, the West Indies missed out on the lucrative event after slumping to ninth place on yesterday’s cut-off date.
Their failure to qualify marks the first time the West Indies will be missing from any of cricket’s three big limited-overs events – the 50-overs World Cup, the Champions Trophy and the Twenty20 World Cup.
West Indies are one of just three teams to have captured all three titles, winning the 50-over World Cup in 1975 and 1979, the Champions Trophy in 2004 and the Twenty20 World Cup in 2012, but have fallen on hard times.
Once the most dominant force in world cricket, West Indies have struggled in recent years, plagued by chaotic mismanagement and rows over player contracts.
Last year, West Indies abandoned their planned tour of India and just two days ago, they suspended coach Phil Simmons after he criticised the selection policy for next month’s tour to Sri Lanka. – Reuters.
Their spot in the 2017 Champions Trophy was effectively taken by Bangladesh, whose last appearance at the tournament was in 2006, although they finished seventh in the rankings, just ahead of Pakistan.
Australia, India, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Pakistan also qualified, along with the host-nation England, who were automatically granted a place.
The 2017 Champions Trophy will take place from June 1-18, with the eight qualified teams separated into two pools of four, and the top two from each group advancing to the knock-out phase.
Online Reporter