Bangladesh tour to Sri Lanka in doubt after SLC increases quarantine period to 14 days
Sep 14, 2020
London [UK], September 14 : Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan has said that "terms and conditions are nowhere near" that were discussed after Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) increases the quarantine period to 14 days.
Bangladesh are scheduled to tour Sri Lanka for the World Test Championship series, beginning on October 23. As there are concerns regarding the spread of coronavirus, SLC had informed that Bangladesh players would need to be in quarantine for one week upon landing before they commence their training.
However, as SLC has now increased the quarantine period for the visitors, Hassan has said that the team "cannot play" on these terms.
"We cannot play World Test Championships with these terms and conditions. Until their letter yesterday, both boards were having discussions along the lines of a seven-day quarantine," ESPNcricinfo quoted Hassan as saying.
"But now their terms and conditions are nowhere near those discussions, and neither are they anything close to what other countries hosting cricket in the pandemic are doing. There are three or seven-day quarantines in those places where the players can either train among themselves or use the gym," he added.
Pointing out further restrictions, Hassan said playing the World Test Championship series is not possible for them.
"Seeing that they started domestic cricket, we informed the SLC that we are coming with a big squad so that we can have our training camp there. But they will not allow us to train when our players have been inactive for seven months. They won't even let us take net bowlers and neither are they going to provide us with any net bowlers. How can we play World Test Championship without any training? So it is not possible for us," he said.
However, in a tweet, Sri Lanka's sports minister Namal Rajapaksa said: "As we all know the #COVID19 pandemic is still at large globally, prevention measures are a high priority. However, given the significance of #cricket in the region, I have asked @OfficialSLC to consult the covid task force and reconsider the @BCBtigers matter."
