DHAKA, (Reuters) – The Bangladesh Cricket Board said it was “really disappointed” that a test tour of Australia had been scrubbed for financial reasons.
Bangladesh had been scheduled to play two tests and three one day internationals Down Under later this year but there was no mention of it when Australia’s schedule for the 2018-19 home season was published at the end of last month.
“They have told us this series is not financially viable due to the off-season,” chief executive Nizam Uddin Chowdhury told Reuters.
“This is really disappointing. All the series we hosted were not always profitable. If we can conduct them, we would expect the other cricket boards, especially bigger ones like Cricket Australia, to do the same.
“We have proposed a shorter version as an alternative. But it looks like they are not continuing. So, this series is not going to happen.”
In the ICC’s Future Tours Programme, Bangladesh’s tour was pencilled in for the Australian winter, when football codes occupy the main cricket stadiums and dominate sports broadcasting.
Bangladesh’s last test tour of Australia was in 2003 when they suffered innings losses in the tropical northern cities of Darwin and Cairns and it is likely such venues would have been considered if the 2018 tour had gone ahead.
Australia drew 1-1 with Bangladesh in a two-test series last year, their first tour of the country since 2011 after Cricket Australia cancelled a trip in 2015 citing security concerns.
