New Zealand could replace India with Bangladesh

Bangladesh are being lined up by New Zealand for a tour early in 2007 after India pulled out of a proposed series because it was too close to the World Cup. Sources at New Zealand Cricket said that the India series is now likely to be staged in December 2008.

"Next season we will be hosting a full international tour. We're not exactly sure who that will be at the moment," Martin Snedden, NZC's chief executive, told a local radio station. "Under the existing FTP (Future Tours Programme) agreement it's Bangladesh, but the whole FTP programme is currently under revision and has been for some months now so it's a little bit uncertain as to whether it will be Bangladesh or whether it may be someone else."

Snedden dismissed suggestions that the India series had been scrapped because of the simmering row between India and the ICC. "We weren't getting home from the VB Series in Australia till mid-February and had to be in the West Indies by March 1 so we were never going to fit in three Tests and five one-dayers against India," he said. "What happened with the postponement of the tour is completely unconnected."

Any series against Bangladesh would be easier to fit in as it would be much shorter than one with India.