BCB plans to host Australia, England and New Zealand ahead of T20 WC
Talks are ongoing for Australia to tour Bangladesh for a belated trip but not for the original two-Test series against the Tigers. The Test series was originally slated for June last year but instead Australia are likely to play three T20Is in Bangladesh, intended as warm-ups for the T20 World Cup in India. However, no final decision has yet been taken, BCB has confirmed. The tour is set to be Australia's first in Bangladesh since 2017.
According to the Future Tours Program (FTP), Bangladesh are also to host England for white-ball games ahead of the T20 World Cup, but Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) CEO confirmed that there is no plan yet to host a tri-nation series involving Australia.
"We are working on it [hosting Australia]. No decision has been made yet. As it stands, Australia, England and New Zealand will tour Bangladesh before the T20 World Cup. That's how we have planned and so far, no final decision has been made on hosting a tri-nation series," BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury told the media today.
Nizamuddin informed that the window available for Australia can only be used for one format and it made sense to play T20s ahead of the T20 World Cup in October.
"We had three Tests and two T20s with Australia. Now that we can fit in T20Is here, we are doing that. Instead of two we are increasing the number to three T20Is. It doesn't mean we are trying to replace one [format] with the other. If there was time available to fit the Tests, we would have done that. Time slot available is either for three ODIs, three Tests or three T20s. So, we are only aiming for the T20Is. It is a good preparation for us before the T20 World Cup and also a great opportunity to play against such a high-profile team ahead of the tournament."
For Australia, who do not have their ICC World Test Championship fortunes in their hand after skipping the tour of South Africa due to Covid-19 risks, a tour of Bangladesh would have been beneficial to regaining their Test Championship destiny in the short 33-day window between the end of Tigers' series against Windies and their departure for New Zealand.
BCB CEO reiterated that they are currently only thinking of completing the postponed Tests against Sri Lanka in the window available to them in what is a very busy international schedule. The postponed Tests against Australia are likely to be scratched off.
"Now most of the FTP games taking place are part of the ICC Test Championship and the World Cup Super League. The final of the Test Championship is scheduled for next June. But before that, according to the FTP, every country has been provided guidelines to finish the matches. Originally the guideline was to finish by March but later that was extended to April. All countries have to be available to complete the postponed games during this period, but both teams have to be available. In our case only Sri Lanka is available at this time. That's what we're working on. There is no opportunity to hold other postponed Tests during this period. So, we are working on whether any other format can be added to the series," he said.
Bangladesh's ends their tour of New Zealand with the third T20 on April 1. The CEO reiterated that a window is available for Sri Lanka series in April. "There is a time slot in April when Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are both available. So we are trying to fit in the two or three Tests of the Test championship in that slot."
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