Captain Cook could miss Bangladesh tour

Sport Desk: England have given the provisional green light to their threatened tour of Bangladesh but whether Alastair Cook will lead them there remains to be seen.

Players and management were told at a meeting in London that England`s safety advisor Reg Dickason is happy with security arrangements for October`s tour after carrying out inspections this month in Dhaka and Chittagong.

Yet the players will be given the chance to pull out of the trip if they are concerned about their safety in a country where 20 people were killed in an attack by five gunmen in July that targeted westerners in Bangladesh.

One player who might not be there for a very different reason is the captain himself as Cook`s wife Alice is expecting their second child around the time of a tour that starts on September 30 and will comprise three one-day internationals and two Tests.

That will provide a huge dilemma for Cook who must decide whether to lead by example and take his team to Bangladesh on a tour with extra scrutiny or be with his family to ensure he is present at the birth.

The England captain left Essex`s championship match against Leicestershire at Grace Road early on Thursday so he could join the players in their central London hotel for talks.

Dickason was joined by Professional Cricketers Association chief executive David Leatherdale and John Carr of the ECB, who all made the inspection trip to Bangladesh, and initially addressed just Cook and one-day captain Eoin Morgan.

Then the group were joined by the players and coaches Trevor Bayliss, Paul Farbrace, Ottis Gibson and Mark Ramprakash for further talks in which Dickason stressed that England would get unprecedented protection.

The players were then left alone to discuss their situation before agreeing to provisionally accept Dickason`s advice and agree in principle to tour but it would only take one more incident in Dhaka in the next month to change things.

England are sure to be sympathetic to Cook`s plight and would back any move to grant him paternity leave ahead of the main business of the winter in India but the sensitivity of the Bangladesh tour makes it a delicate situation.

Players missing chunks of tours to attend the birth of their children is not unusual but Cook will be loathe to stay at home while his charges undertake a tour where public relations will be at a premium.

There is a precedent in that Andrew Flintoff, then the England captain, missed the birth of his son Corey in 2006 to stay with his team in India and Cook clearly has one of the most difficult decisions of his career to make.

It will also be a tough call for the rest of the team as there has unquestionably been some nervousness among the players since the attack by Islamic terrorists on Dhaka amid Foreign Office warnings about Bangladesh.

One player who finds himself in an unenviable position is Stuart Broad, who is due to make his 100th Test appearance for England in the second match in Chittagong. Broad`s family have already decided not to travel and will miss the special occasion. The question now is whether any players feel the same way.

Yet the Australian Dickason is very highly regarded by players, management and administrators alike and if believes it is safe for England to go then it is probable that the team will trust him and agree to travel en masse.

It is an especially sensitive situation because Australia pulled out of a trip to Bangladesh last year for security reasons and withdrew their Under 19s from the age-group World Cup held in the country earlier this year.

That means any England withdrawal would effectively leave Bangladesh in exile along with Pakistan, who have been unable to stage international matches since the terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team in Lahore in 2009.

On Thursday night all the indications were that England will travel.

Source: Daily Mail

risingbd/DHAKA/Aug 26, 2016/Amirul