Bangladesh optimistic Aussie T20 visit will go ahead

Bangladesh remain optimistic about hosting Australia as officials continue to work through biosecurity arrangements ahead of the planned series of five T20s in August.

In announcing a final squad of 18, plus two travelling reserves, for their winter white-ball tours yesterday, Cricket Australia (CA) noted that "confirmation of the tours are subject to agreement on bio-security arrangements and relevant government approvals".

While arrangements are in place for the visit to the West Indies for a tour that takes in five T20s in St Lucia and three ODIs in Barbados, some details still remain to be finalised for the Bangladesh leg that is planned to immediately follow.

"Still we are working on that (bio-security requests from CA) and what they are saying is not impossible to implement," Bangladesh Cricket Board chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury told reporters overnight.

"Already we are talking with the hotel authorities and concerned ministries regarding the home series against Australia.

"We are expecting a formal confirmation but obviously, there are some challenges and we can say something concrete about it only after confirming it with respective authorities.

''When the bilateral tour is on, there is a final confirmation between the two boards and they (CA) are right in stating that the tour is subject to confirmation as neither we nor they have confirmed the tour officially."

Australia have not toured Bangladesh since a two-Test series in August-September 2017 which was drawn 1-1, while they last met in international cricket at the 2019 ODI World Cup in England.

The T20 series in Bangladesh had initially been proposed as three games to be played in October 2019 but was pushed back to this year by mutual agreement.

With the coronavirus pandemic forcing a two-Test tour of Bangladesh to be cancelled last year, the T20 series had been extended to five games, serving as important T20 World Cup preparation for both nations.

If confirmed, Australia will take a squad shorn of seven of their leading players following a raft of withdrawals.

Pat Cummins, Glenn Maxwell, David Warner, Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Jhye Richardson and Kane Richardson were all confirmed as withdrawals from Australia's upcoming winter tours, leaving coach Justin Langer without seven of his best players four months out from the T20 World Cup.

Smith has withdrawn due to an elbow injury while the six others, according to a release from Cricket Australia, "requested not to be considered for the tour for various reasons".

The Australians will fly to the West Indies on June 28, and are expected to return in mid-August, where they will face 14 days of hotel quarantine.

The national team will then head overseas again ahead of the T20 World Cup in October. They would then return home for another 14 more days of hotel quarantine ahead of the home summer, which is headlined by the Vodafone Ashes series against England.