England’s winter tour to Bangladesh has been thrown into fresh doubt following the terrorist attack in Dhaka on Friday night that led to 20 people being killed by Islamist militants.
The England and Wales Cricket Board has said it will undertake a “thorough and robust” inspection before the month-long tour that begins on 30 September and is prepared to take “the appropriate steps” should security arrangements not be deemed acceptable.
England are scheduled to play two of their three one-day internationals, as well as the second of their two scheduled Test matches, in Dhaka and concerns are understood to have already been expressed by current members of the squad.
It comes after the 12-hour hostage situation at the Holey Artisan Bakery cafe in the diplomatic quarter of Dhaka on Friday night where 20 civilians, reported to be mostly foreign nationals, were killed along with two police officers.
Islamic State have claimed responsibility for the attack, which came to a bloody conclusion during the early hours of Saturday morning when 100 Bangladeshi commandos stormed the building, killing six militants and reportedly capturing a seventh.
The ECB will now look to its director of security, Reg Dickason, as well as the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, for guidance, with a spokesperson saying: “The safety and security of our players and management is always of paramount importance to ECB and this applies to all teams representing England on overseas tours.
“We will continue to monitor and assess the situation in Bangladesh over the coming weeks and months and will undertake a thorough and robust pre-tour inspection of planned security arrangements for the England team.
“We will also continue to work closely with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office [FCO] and should our director of security, Reg Dickason, or the FCO, advise that the environment is not acceptably safe or the right measures not in place, we would take the appropriate steps.”
Dickason has been monitoring the situation in Bangladesh for some time and was in the country at the start of the year before the Under-19s World Cup for what was his second visit in the space of three months, having been part of a security delegation led by the International Cricket Council the previous November.
While England took part in the tournament, Australia opted to withdraw their Under-19 team having postponed the senior side’s tour to the country the previous October because of what the Cricket Australia chief executive, James Sutherland, described at the time as a “credible risk” to Australian interests.
The current advice from the UK FCO following Friday’s attack reads: “Until further notice we specifically advise against visiting areas where foreign nationals are known to congregate such as public areas of international hotels, large supermarkets, restaurants and clubs.”
The Holey Artisan Bakery cafe, where the bloody siege took place, is just five miles from the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium and six from the Pan Pacific Sonargaon, which has been the England team hotel during previous tours of Bangladesh.
