Security concerns: Cricket Australia puts Bangladesh tour off

With the first Test scheduled to start on October 9, Australia’s World Cup football qualifier against Bangladesh in Dhaka on November 17 could also be at risk.

“They have information that Australian interest is under threat but that is not confined to Bangladesh, it is also in other neighbouring countries”, Hassan told.

In a final attempt to persuade Cricket Australia to have a change of heart, Nazmul Hassan, the president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, revealed an unprecedented level of security for a touring nation would be supplied.

Cricket Australia (CA) on Thursday announced that they have been forced to postpone their tour of Bangladesh 2015, due to security reasons.

“I am acutely aware that the disappointment this decision will produce will be felt very keenly within Bangladesh”, he added.

“We’ve had three people on the ground meeting with Bangladesh Cricket, Bangladesh government sources and members of our foreign affairs department in Bangladesh.”

The Test squad players have returned to their respective states and will participate in the domestic one-day competition in Sydney starting on Monday.

The Board is committed to rescheduling the series at a later date and will continue to work closely with CA to that end, it said.

The annual “Glitter Party” organised by Australian and New Zealand expats had been held in the city for the past 26 years.

“The decision by Cricket Australia to postpone the tour is the correct one in these hard circumstances, particularly from a player safety and welfare point of view”, Alistair Nicholson, the Australian Cricketers’ Association chief executive said.

But while the Australian security delegation was in the country, an Italian aid worker in Dhaka was shot dead in an attack claimed by Islamic State.

Australia’s full squad was to fly out to Bangladesh last Monday before a security warning from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, delayed their departure. “Together with the Bangladeshi Government, they left no stone unturned in trying to allay our concerns and we are most appreciative of that”, Sutherland said.

“From my Government, I request the Australian team to come, and to play”.

But Mr Khan said the incident did not mean player security would be compromised and denied that the attack could be attributed to the radical Islamist group.

The Australian security assessment team would now inform higher-ups about their findings, he said, hoping the issue would be resolved.

“Some State players became available to make way for the returning Australian Test players, so the CA XI squad has been revised to include a few of these players”.