Aust hopeful Bangladesh tour to go ahead

Australian cricket bosses are hopeful the two-Test tour of Bangladesh will go ahead despite delaying the team's departure due to security concerns.

Cricket Australia Chief Executive James Sutherland

Australian cricket bosses are hopeful the two-Test tour of Bangladesh will go ahead. (AAP)

Australian cricket officials remain hopeful the two-Test tour of Bangladesh will go ahead despite security concerns.

Cricket Australia (CA) on Saturday delayed the departure of players and officials after receiving government advice about a specific threat to Australians in Bangladesh.

The team was due to leave on Monday morning from Sydney but will wait until a decision is made on whether the tour can progress.

With a three-day tour match set to start on Saturday in Fatullah and the opening Test in Chittagong from October 9, CA chief executive James Sutherland admits time is a factor.

CA head of security Sean Carroll is en route to Bangladesh and will provide a safety assessment once he arrives.

Sutherland said there were no plans to abandon the tour at this stage.

"Our position is that we want the tour to go ahead as planned," he said

"This has obviously come very suddenly and we needed to make this response.

"Our preferred position is to continue the tour but the safety and security of our players and staff is the absolute priority."

Sutherland said he had been in contact with his Bangladesh counterpart and was also updating the International Cricket Council (ICC) about the situation.

Latest travel advice from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade warns of "reliable information" that militants were planning to target Australian interests in Bangladesh.

Sutherland says that warning is for Australians generally and not specifically towards the cricket team or staff.

He said a clearer picture should emerge once Carroll had arrived in the country.

"We haven't thought about any end dates," he said.

"This is news that came to us on Friday. The response at this stage is very much to get our head of security on the ground ... meetings will commence on Monday; we'll have a much better understanding there.

"It's just one step at a time at the moment."


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Source: AAP



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