Cricket: Jordan to tour Bangladesh
Chris Jordan has followed Moeen Ali in declaring he will be available for England's tour of Bangladesh, saying Tuesday he was happy with assurances there would be "more than enough" security in place.
The tour was called into question after an attack on a Dhaka cafe in July that saw 20 hostages killed.
Last week off-spinner and left-handed batsman Ali became the first England player to state, without qualification, that he would travel to Bangladesh at the end of this month if selected and all-rounder Jordan was equally adamant on Tuesday.
"If selected, I will definitely go," Jordan told a news conference at Old Trafford ahead of England's Twenty20 international against Pakistan at the Manchester ground on Wednesday.
Jonny Bairstow has all but guaranteed his tour availability and Alastair Cook, England's Test captain, is understood to have given a private assurance to England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) officials that he too will make the trip.
Following the Dhaka attack, the ECB sent an inspection team to Bangladesh led by their long-serving security chief Reg Dickason.
After he reported back, the board confirmed last month that the tour, which includes three one-day international and two Test match fixtures in October and November, would go ahead as planned, with Dickason also briefing England players in London.
"They obviously said they'll provide more than enough security -- they reckon they'll overcook themselves on the amount provided," said Jordan.
Asked if other members of England's Test and ODI squads were still uncertain about touring Bangladesh, Jordan said: "Possibly, and naturally so.
"It's not the ideal situation, but we can't change it or what's gone on in the past."
Pietersen warns Morgan
England coach Trevor Bayliss, who held a similar role with Sri Lanka when their team bus came under armed attack in Lahore, Pakistan in 2009, has also said that he will tour Bangladesh.
But England limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan, while denying he was "reluctant" to tour, has still to make himself available.
Former England captain Kevin Pietersen warned the Irishman he would be putting his international career in jeopardy if he opted out.
"Eoin Morgan has no choice but to go to Bangladesh," Pietersen said in his Daily Telegraph column published Tuesday.
"He may still decide not to make the trip, and it is his right to take that personal choice, but it will be held against him at some stage in the future, despite any assurances to the contrary," added Pietersen, England's captain when they continued with their 2008 tour of India following the Mumbai terror attacks.
"When the going gets tough for him in the future, with the team losing, or a run of personal low scores, then he will find that the loyalty from his bosses will not be the same because he went against them."
Sunday's four-wicket defeat by Pakistan in the fifth ODI in Cardiff has been England's lone loss in white-ball cricket so far this season.
They won an ODI series against Sri Lanka 3-0 before triumphing in their Twenty20 with the islanders and Sunday's reverse still meant they came away with a 4-1 win in a five-match campaign.
England wicket-keeper Jos Buttler is set to be back behind the stumps at his Lancashire home ground on Wednesday after missing the last two ODIs with a hamstring problem.