Eoin Morgan and Alex Hales opt out of Bangladesh tour over security fears!
Sep 12, 2016 at 11:18 AM
After a lot of speculation surrounding their participation on the Bangladesh tour, England skipper Eoin Morgan and opener Alex Hales have made themselves unavailable to tour the South Asian country due to security reasons. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed the news on Monday (September 12).
Expressing his disappointment over the decision, England’s director of cricketer Andrew Strauss said:”Whilst we understand and respect Eoin and Alex’s decision, we are disappointed that they have made themselves unavailable for selection for the Bangladesh tour.”
The tour, which is scheduled to start on September 30, was in serious doubt after the terrorist attack in Dhaka on July 1 that led to 20 people being killed by Islamist militants. But assurance from both the cricket boards and Reg Dickason, ECB’s director of security who led a team of men for a thorough assessment in Bangladesh, convinced the players to go ahead with the tour. However, Morgan and Hales were not convinced and have decided to skip the series.
Morgan earlier said that he would not go to a place which will distract him from concentrating on cricket.
“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.
Meanwhile, Strauss said that the board held talks with all the players and apart from Morgan and Hales, they are not expecting any other player to skip the tour.
“We have had open and honest conversations with all the players about the security arrangements in Bangladesh and at this stage, we are not expecting any other individuals to withdraw from the tour. As with all England overseas tours, the safety and security of players and staff is of the utmost importance to ECB,” Strauss opined.
“We will continue to monitor the situation in Bangladesh, take advice and consider the appropriate steps up to and throughout the five weeks we are on tour,” he added.
In Morgan’s absence, England vice-captain Jos Buttler is expected to lead the side on this challenging tour. England will be riding high on confidence after thrashing Pakistan in the recently concluded One-day International series but the series against Bangladesh will be tougher. In their home conditions, Bangladesh have performed really well and they had also defeated South Africa and India.