England’s cricketers will discover shortly whether their winter tour to Bangladesh is to go ahead and Eoin Morgan, the limited-overs captain, has pre-empted the announcement by saying there will be no pressure on players should the tour receive the green light from the team’s security director, Reg Dickason.
Morgan’s one-day side, who begin a home series with Pakistan in Southampton on Wednesday, are due to fly to Bangladesh on 30 September for the month-long trip that features three 50-over internationals and two Test matches, and will be briefed on the situation in the country on Thursday evening.
The tour has been in doubt since 1 July when five Islamic militants attacked a cafe in the Gulshan district of the capital, Dhaka, in a bloody siege that ended with the deaths of 20 hostages – of whom 18 were foreign nationals – and two policemen, before the gunmen were killed.
Dickason, the England and Wales Cricket Board’s long-serving security expert, has now returned from a two-week assessment of Bangladesh and India – the second tour of the winter – along with the ECB’s head of cricket operations, John Carr, and David Leatherdale, the chief executive of the Professional Cricketers Association, with the trio now set to share their findings with the squad and the Test captain, Alastair Cook.
Morgan, the limited overs captain who has previously admitted to the tour being “a big concern”, has welcomed the news that a decision is imminent while stressing the need for the team’s conversations that follow this security briefing to be open and honest.
He said: “I’m looking forward to the meeting because it’s a decision you’d prefer to get out of the way sooner rather than later or it becomes a distraction. They’ll debrief us on exactly what the findings are from both tours and we’ll get together as a side and chat about it. It has to be quite open.”
Asked whether there is scope for players to withdraw from the tour should it go ahead, as occurred in 2001 when Andy Caddick and Robert Croft missed a trip to India following the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, Morgan replied: “There’s always room for a personal decision. You never put anyone under pressure to go on a tour.
“You also have to understand guys are in different situations and might have different priorities. But until we hear what it’s like … well, the media perception can be completely different from what is actually happening.”
Australia have withdrawn both their senior and Under-19 sides from trips to the country in the past 12 months due to security concerns but the Bangladesh Cricket Board, which has already ruled out the tour being played at a neutral venue, remains confident England’s security team were satisfied with arrangements.
Dickason’s assessment was not based solely on team safety, however, with the security of both the travelling media and supporters also to be factored into the decision. One concern understood to have been raised already relates to security on the roads. The current advice from the Foreign Office for those travelling to Bangladesh reads: “There is a heightened threat of further terrorist attacks and foreigners, in particular westerners, may be directly targeted; crowded areas where westerners are known to gather may be at higher risk of attack; you should minimise your exposure to these areas.”
