Bangladesh hit out at discrimination in touring arrangements

Bangladesh's cricketers hit out at arrangements that saw them fly economy class even as their hosts flew executive class on their flight to Multan ahead of the third Test on Wednesday.

While the entire Pakistani squad flew executive class, only Dav Whatmore, manager MA Latif, physio John Gloster and trainer Dean Woodford were allotted executive class seats. According to The Daily Star, Bangladesh's liaison officer explained the arrangement by saying that the list of the touring squad had been received late.

One Bangladesh cricketer, who remained anonymous, said: "We have never heard of such silly excuses. Whenever any foreign team tours Bangladesh, we book the best hotel for them. We even compromise with our comfort by moving to a cheaper hotel to accommodate the guests. The Pakistani authorities should have had the decency to do the same."

Whatmore was more vocal. "This is not a good gesture. If there was any problem, the home team should have taken the economy class and offered the executive class to the Bangladesh team. I have never seen anything like this in my life." Whatmore had even offered his and Woodford's seats to Khaled Mahmud, Bangladesh's captain, and his deputy Habibul Bashar. "If required I will sit in the economy class and leave my seat to my captain. It's a matter of prestige."

But a spokesman for the Pakistan Cricket Board denied that the Bangladesh side had been victimised. "There is a player contract with the Pakistan team that stipulates domestic travel for the team be executive class. The plane to Multan was a small one with only 25 seats thus the manager and officials were flown executive class."

He added that on the longer flight between Karachi and Peshawar, made on a bigger Airbus, both sides flew executive class.

International Cricket Council regulations stipulate that touring teams must be flown in at least economy-class for internal flights, while overseas and long-distance flights must be undertaken in a higher class.