Australia Withdraws From U-19 World Cup In Bangladesh

05 January, Sydney

Australia have withdrawn from the under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh later this month because of concerns over the “safety and security” of the squad, Cricket Australia said in statement Tuesday.

Australia postponed a test tour of Bangladesh in October for similar reasons and Cricket Australia (CA) Chief Executive James Sutherland said the situation had not improved.”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,” Sutherland said in the statement.

“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

.”Muslim-majority Bangladesh faces what appears to be a growing threat of militant violence and has seen a string of incidents last year including the shooting of three foreigners, two of whom died.

The International Cricket Council said via Twitter preparations for the Jan. 22 to Feb.

14 tournament were continuing and Ireland had been invited to replace Australia.”The ICC takes its responsibilities around safety and security of ICC events extremely seriously,” ICC Chief Executive David Richardson was quoted as saying.

The Australia under-19 squad will still travel to the United Arab Emirates next week to play a tri-series against Pakistan and New Zealand.