BCB rules out playing England at neutral venue

Nizamuddin Chowdhury, BCB's chief executive, has categorically rejected any talk of playing England at a neutral venue should they pull out of their scheduled tour of Bangladesh in October. Eoin Morgan, England's limited-overs captain, said last week that neutral venues may be "feasible if it came to that" after the Gulshan attacks in Dhaka on July 1.

"We always believe this is never a solution," Chowdhury said. "Cricket cannot stop in a country. We will make our best effort to fulfill the FTP commitment. The cricket operations of both BCB and ECB are in continuous communication regarding the England tour of Bangladesh in October. They are in discussion with the tour related matters, especially the logistics."

Chowdhury said that the ECB's security visit will be held in the coming months. "The security visit is a standard practice. Teams like England, Australia do this regularly. A security delegate from England was supposed to come last month, but as they have tour of India after Bangladesh, I think they will do the security inspection of the two countries together. We will get to know when they get confirmation from the two boards."

Bangladesh has never needed to host a bilateral series in a neutral venue, but Australia postponed their 2015 tour and pulled out of the Under-19 World Cup earlier this year due to their government's advice on security matters.

Chowdhury said the ICC were to issue guidelines on security issues, but is banking on Bangladesh's track record of hosting major events despite volatile times in the country. In 2014, the BCB managed to host three high-profile international tournaments mere weeks after election-related violence had subsided. After Australia's twin pull out, there was much concern about the Under-19 World Cup, but it was held in four cities in the country.

"The security issue has already been discussed at different levels in the ICC. There have been discussions on security protocol. A guideline will soon be given from the ICC," he said. "We have very good track record of hosting successful international events with the support from the government and the law enforcement departments. We believe to get the same support in future for hosting cricket in the country."