CA monitoring England series

The head of Cricket Australia's (CA) security unit is expected to arrive in Bangladesh in order to expedite the required security processes for Australia's scheduled tour of Bangladesh in August 2017. The security official is likely to arrive during the second Test between England and Bangladesh in Mirpur.

According to Bangladesh Cricket Board CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury, Cricket Australia has been monitoring England's tour of Bangladesh 'closely' and they have also been in touch with officials of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

Nizamuddin revealed the details following his return from an ICC board meeting that took place in South Africa last week.

"The ECB representatives said that they were happy with security arrangements made by the BCB. And as per the FTP commitment, Australia are scheduled to play two Tests against Bangladesh next year.

"Australia are closely monitoring this series and are in contact with the ECB. Since the ECB is happy we are confident that Australia will tour Bangladesh in 2017," Nizamuddin told The Daily Star yesterday.

"In addition, the Australian High Commission in Bangladesh is also monitoring the security provided to the ECB. The head of CA's security is also expected to visit Bangladesh during the second Test to physically see the arrangements that we have made. I had these discussions on the sidelines of the ICC meeting. These talks obviously weren't a part of the ICC board meeting. They were done on the sidelines," he added.

Australia were supposed to tour Bangladesh in October, 2015. However, the series was postponed after CA decided against sending its team on security grounds. Three months later, the board also decided to withdraw its Under-19 team from the U-19 World Cup in Bangladesh in January 2016. The Australians were the only ones to pull out from that event.

Following those events, CA and BCB came to a conclusion and decided to reschedule Australia's tour of Bangladesh to 2017. Initially, as per the FTP, Bangladesh were supposed to travel to Australia in August next year. However, Bangladesh's tour of Australia had to be pushed to 2018 in order to make room for Australia's arrival. This may mean that Australia could arrive in Bangladesh in August 2017.

"We thought that it would be best for them to come here first and then think about the away tour. As of now, Bangladesh's tour of Australia has been rearranged in the FTP and that is now scheduled to take place in 2018," Nizamuddin added.

Furthermore, Chowdhury also said that Bangladesh's tour of Sri Lanka in March 2017 is in the process of getting confirmed.