ECB issues deadline to Eoin Morgan to change his mind on Bangladesh tour

09/10/2016

The England & Wales Cricket Board has issued a deadline of September 10 to ODI skipper Eoin Morgan to take a final call on whether he will join the rest of the team for the tour to Bangladesh. Morgan had earlier expressed security concerns following a terrorist attack in Dhaka.

"Playing international cricket - or any cricket - is not about worrying about different things, it should be the best time of your life, it should be something that you are looking forward to and wanting to do well in and are able to focus on. I have been to places before when things have become a distraction and once or twice when that has been security, and when it has been I told myself I would not put myself in that situation again," Morgan said on Thursday, reported Cricbuzz.

Following a terror attack in Dhaka, where 20 hostages and 2 police offers were killed, in July, the ECB has been monitoring the situation closely. England & Wales Cricket Board's security director Reg Dickason has recently issued a clearance for the tour to go ahead, but Eoin Morgan and opener Alex Hales have expressed their reservations about touring the subcontinental nation.

England's director of cricket Andrew Strauss has, however, expressed contrasting opinions. He has said, "We feel it's safe to go and I genuinely believe that and that is why I'm encouraging every player to use that incredibly detailed and experienced viewpoint from Reg to make a judgement," Strauss had said previously. "I think the reason why it's a good thing for players to follow the security advice is things remain very black and white, which is: if Reg says it's safe to go somewhere, it's safe; and if it isn't, it isn't. I think if you're making your own opinions, based on your own perceptions, then you're in a bit more of a grey area there.

"I can't force anyone up the steps to the plane and say: 'You have to go to Bangladesh.' People have their own decisions to make. I think, at its most simple level, the big consequence for not going is you are giving someone else an opportunity to step into your shoes and stake a claim for themselves," strauss said.

England are slated to play Bangladesh in an ODI series from October 7, before a two-match Test series which starts on October 20.