Bangladesh’s limited over captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza on Wednesday urged England Test captains Alastair Cook and Eoin Morgan to come to play their scheduled series against the Tigers without any tension.
“I’m urging the two England captains (Alastair Cook and Eoin Morgan) to come here and play without any tension,” he said while talking to journalists at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.
“I still believe they will come,” the Narail Express expressed his optimism amid security concern being expressed over English team’s tour to Bangladesh.
“As a player, I will urge the other players to continue the game and the game must go ahead. Nobody can predict what will happen. If you don’t play, it will be stopped at one point. I think the players should focus on playing the game. The board will look after the other matters,” Mashrafe added.
Mashrafe came up with his remarks one day after England’s limited-over sides captain Eoin Morgan indicated that ‘individual players will be given the choice of whether they want to be included’ for the tour of Bangladesh.
Morgan said to BBC on Tuesday, “I don’t think anybody will ever be forced to go on a particular tour. There would be “room for a personal decision” if individuals were reluctant to travel.”
Morgan previously expressed his concerns about visiting to Bangladesh in the wake of a terrorist attack in Dhaka in July.
Besides, renowned British newspaper The Daily Telegraph carried out a report on Tuesday with doubts over travel safety in Bangladesh, especially in the two cities where the matches are scheduled to be held.
“This kind of attack is happening all over the world. Footballers have played in the EURO in France even after the country had terror attacks….It depends on ECB and BCB…I think they should come,” Mashrafe asserted the current anxiety all over the world over terror attacks.
“They (the security team) have had inspections… I think whatever happens we have the ability to transport players safely. We have families too, we are also human and our transport issues fall into the same category. I believe that the BCB can handle it. I don’t think it will be too difficult,” the hopeful skipper added.
“We all are confident that Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and the government will be able to ensure necessary security arrangements, Mashrafe concluded.
The England cricket team will be given a briefing on Thursday by the three-member expert team that departed Bangladesh in the last week after inspecting the security measures.
The expert team included England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) security advisor Reg Dickason, the chief executive of the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) David Leatherdale and ECB director of cricket operations John Carr.
The English team is scheduled to arrive in Bangladesh on September 30 and will stay until November 2 to play three ODI and Tests series in Dhaka and Chittagong.
The ODIs are scheduled to start on October 7, while the two-Test series on October 20.
