Australia pull out of U-19 WC

Ending all speculations, Australia yesterday pulled out of the ICC Under-19 Cricket in Bangladesh starting on January 27 over safety and security fears.
The Cricket Australia had earlier scrapped a Test tour in Bangladesh late last year due to the same reasons.
“The decision was taken after advice from the government stated that the threat to Australian interests in Bangladesh was as high as when the senior team had pulled out of their tour in October last year,” said CA chief executive James Sutherland in a statement.
The ICC has invited Ireland, who were runners-up in the qualifying tournament in Kuala Lumpur in October, to replace Australia in the tournament.
While Australia withdrew them from the tournament, its neighbouring country New Zealand confirmed that they would be going ahead with their tournament preparations as scheduled. No other team as yet complained any security fears.
"For some time we have been working closely with ICC security advisors and monitoring the security situation in Bangladesh and have been keeping our players, officials and the players' parents as up to date as possible," Sutherland said. "Regrettably, the advice from our government suggests that the security threat to Australians travelling to Bangladesh remains as high now as it was when we postponed the Test team's tour of that country late last year.”
The ICC said it respected CA's decision but was disappointed by it. Its chief David Richardson said the ICC takes its responsibilities around the safety and security of ICC events extremely seriously; confident that the proposed security arrangements will adequately address the identified risks.

“And taking into consideration the full and unequivocal support of the Bangladesh government that has been afforded to us at the highest level and through all local security agencies, the advice we have received from our own and independent security experts, and the robust security plan that has been developed, the ICC remains of the view the it is appropriate for event planning to continue as scheduled,” Richardson said in a statement.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) was also frustrated by the decision the CA had taken despite giving the assurance of state level security.
BCB president Nazmul Hassan expressed his disappointed over the Cricket Australia’s pull out decision. “It’s disappointing and it is sad for world cricket,” BCB president said.
“Its  disappointing. We have no control over it. What we can do, is to ensure a fool-proof security. And we did it, we proved it time and again,” BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury said.
“It’s an ICC event. If anyone has any query, they would have to communicate ICC with this regard. As the host nation, our responsibility is to organize the tournament successfully without any interruption and we have vowed to do that.”
He however said their cricketing relations with the CA is still good and it would be better as the time goes on even though Australia scrapped the tour twice inside three months.

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Australia pull out of U-19 WC

Ending all speculations, Australia yesterday pulled out of the ICC Under-19 Cricket in Bangladesh starting on January 27 over safety and security fears. The Cricket Australia had earlier scrapped a Test tour in Bangladesh late last year due to the same reasons. The decision was taken after advice from the government stated that the threat to Australian interests in Bangladesh was as high as when the senior team had pulled out of their tour in October last year, said CA chief executive James Sutherland in a statement. The ICC has invited Ireland, who were runners-up in the qualifying tournament in Kuala Lumpur in October, to replace Australia in the tournament. While Australia withdrew them from the tournament, its neighbouring country New Zealand confirmed that they would be going ahead with their tournament preparations as scheduled. No other team as yet complained any security fears. For some time we have been working closely with ICC security advisors and monitoring the security situation in Bangladesh and have been keeping our players, officials and the players parents as up to date as possible, Sutherland said. Regrettably, the advice from our government suggests that the security threat to Australians travelling to Bangladesh remains as high now as it was when we postponed the Test teams tour of that country late last year. The ICC said it respected CAs decision but was disappointed by it. Its chief David Richardson said the ICC takes its responsibilities around the safety and security of ICC events extremely seriously; confident that the proposed security arrangements will adequately address the identified risks. And taking into consideration the full and unequivocal support of the Bangladesh government that has been afforded to us at the highest level and through all local security agencies, the advice we have received from our own and independent security experts, and the robust security plan that has been developed, the ICC remains of the view the it is appropriate for event planning to continue as scheduled, Richardson said in a statement. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) was also frustrated by the decision the CA had taken despite giving the assurance of state level security. BCB president Nazmul Hassan expressed his disappointed over the Cricket Australias pull out decision. Its disappointing and it is sad for world cricket, BCB president said. Its disappointing. We have no control over it. What we can do, is to ensure a fool-proof security. And we did it, we proved it time and again, BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury said. Its an ICC event. If anyone has any query, they would have to communicate ICC with this regard. As the host nation, our responsibility is to organize the tournament successfully without any interruption and we have vowed to do that. He however said their cricketing relations with the CA is still good and it would be better as the time goes on even though Australia scrapped the tour twice inside three months. Related story on sports page