BSP-24 England, Australia, New Zealand set to tour Bangladesh ahead T20 WC

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ZCZC

BSP-24

CRICKET-BCB-ENG-NZ-AUS

England, Australia, New Zealand set to tour Bangladesh ahead T20 WC

DHAKA, Feb 10, 2021 (BSS)- The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has planned
to host Australia and New Zealand for a three-match T20 series respectively
in September-October this year.

Apart from that England will also tour the country according to the Future
Tour Programme (FTP).

Both New Zealand and Australia will come here as part of their preparation
for the World T20, to be held in India.

Bangladesh’s two-match Test series against Australia and New Zealand got
postponed earlier due to Covid-19 pandemic. Those four Tests were the part of
the ICC World Test Championship.

BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury, however, ruled out the possibility of going
ahead with the postponed Test series against the two teams at this moment.

He, however, added that England too will tour the country for a three-match
ODI series following the Australia series.

Even though he did not confirm the possibility of a tri-nation series
involving the host and the two nations (Australia and England), he did not
rule out the possibility either.

“It’s too early to make comment anything about the T20 tri-nation
tournament because everyone needs to agree and we can get a clear picture
when we get closer to the dates. But the England series is in FTP,” Chowdhury
told the reporters here today.

Australia was scheduled to arrive in June while New Zealand was expected to
tour in August-September but the chances of hosting these Test series looked
slim now, Chowdhury said.

“We don’t have enough windows to play the remaining matches,” he said.

The only time slot available before the World Test Championship cut off
dates for qualification — before April end — has been reserved for a series
against Sri Lanka.

“I don’t think there is a possibility of playing those Test matches as the
final is in April. We’ve a time slot available in April to play a Test series
against Sri Lanka and we are trying to fix dates for those.”

BSS/SMP/SSS/1825 hrs