By: Drcricket7 Staff
Australia have decided to opt out of the Under-19 World Cup owing to security concerns in Bangladesh. Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland confirmed that working on government’s advice they have decided to pull out of the World Cup.
“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,” CA chief executive James 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.”
“Included in that is reliable information suggesting there is a high threat to Australian interests in Bangladesh and the knowledge that the Australian Government has authorised the dependants of posted diplomatic staff in Bangladesh to return home to Australia. In the end, with all of the information and advice we have received, we feel we had no alternative other than to make this difficult decision.”
“We have not taken this decision lightly and we apologise for the inconvenience this may create for the organisers of the tournament – in particular the ICC and BCB. In advising the BCB, we have reaffirmed our desire to get back to Bangladesh to play cricket as soon as possible and will continue to discuss this with them in the coming months. We also know that this is a very disappointing outcome for our young players, who will have been looking forward to this event with great anticipation.”
