Cricket board rules out neutral venue

The Bangladesh Cricket Board chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury has ruled out the use of a neutral venue if England decide not to tour Bangladesh in October this year. England captain Eoin Morgan last week raised security concern over Bangladesh following the terrorist attack in Dhaka earlier this month. “We always believe that neutral venue is never a solution. Cricket cannot stop in a country. We will make our best effort to fulfil the Future Tours Programme commitment,” said Nizamuddin on Monday. He informed that the cricket operations committee of the BCB and the England and Wales Cricket Board are in constant communication over the upcoming series. When asked about BCB’s stance following ECB raising security concern, Nizamuddin said: “We should have one thing in mind that security has become a global issue now. It is not that the issue is persisting only in Bangladesh. You will find these occurrences in many leading countries in the world, in countries where they have barriers of security. So this is not a special concern for us. But as we all know Bangladesh takes special security measures when we host a series or any tournament. “The Bangladesh government and the security agencies like the police and Rapid Action Battalion gives out full support and we have very good record of hosting big events of the International Cricket Council. I hope the boards will consider these facts. There was some security concern when Bangladesh hosted the ICC Under-19 World Cup earlier this year but we got full support from the top level of the government and hosted the event successfully. I think I should mention that England had sent their U-19 team, despite the issues, and they had their full support towards us. I hope the same will remain in the coming days.” England are scheduled to reach Dhaka on September 30. During the month-long tour, England will play two Tests and three one-day internationals against hosts Bangladesh. Bangladesh, despite security concerns in the past successfully hosted bilateral series and also big ICC events. The latest was hosting the ICC U-19 World Cup in January this year where Cricket Australia had pulled out its U-19 team showing concern. But the BCB, backed by the government, hosted a successful event. “We have a very good track record of hosting successful international events with the support from the government and the law enforcement departments. We believe we will get the same support in future for hosting cricket in the country,” said Nizamuddin.