“We’re confident the tour will take place”

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

Cricket Australia have announced that they will be sending a security team to Bangladesh next week to assess the security situation in the country.

Should everything turn out fine, it will finalise Australia’s tour of Bangladesh, which is scheduled to take place in August-September.

Australia were supposed to travel to Bangladesh in 2015, but the tour was called off due to security concerns.

Speaking about the security team’s visit, Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said: “We’re just working through all the details. I’m very pleased to be at a stage of really fine-tuning the detail – there are still some things that we need to work through just to lock down on security.

“Once our hosts have locked in dates and the schedule, then from us it’s all systems go, subject to any security concerns we might have. From all the research we’ve done and the work we’ve done with [the Department of] Foreign Affairs and others through government agencies, we’re confident the tour will take place.”

Australia are set to arrive in Dhaka on August 18 and will start their tour by playing a three-day practice game in Chittagong from August 22 to 24.

This will be followed by the first Test, which will be held in Chittagong from August 27-31. The second and final Test, meanwhile, will be played in Mirpur from September 4-8.