Come to Bangladesh, Mash urges England

Bangladesh limited-over captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza on Wednesday urged the England players to go ahead with their October tour of Bangladesh. Mashrafe's plea came, a day before the England one-day squad sits for a security briefing with the three-member delegation that recently visited Dhaka. The ECB's security advisor Reg Dickason, director of cricket operations John Carr and Professional Cricketers' Association CEO David Leatherdale will present their findings to the English cricketers as part of an “open discussion” on Thursday. “To each and every player I would say, you should come. I can assure you that you can play cricket wholeheartedly. You don't have to think of anything else. It will be a competitive series. Our friendship will get deeper if we play this series,” said Mashrafe. “As a player, I would urge for cricket to continue. These incidents are happening all over the world and if we postpone playing now, there will be a time when we would have to stop the game. We all have to keep our faith on the ECB team that visited recently as well as the two boards,” he added. England, who are scheduled to reach Dhaka in September for two Tests and three ODIs, raised security concerns following the terrorist attack in Dhaka last month. The three-member ECB delegation visited Bangladesh last week to assess the security arrangements and met the Australian and the British High Commissions, the Bangladesh home ministry and the local security agencies. The issue gained heat after a British news daily on Tuesday reported that the ECB is concerned regarding the travelling of its team within the cities. Mashrafe however, believes the BCB and the government has already provided enough assurances to the ECB to go ahead with the tour. “They (ECB) can speak about something that they feel needs to be addressed. I don't know in what context this was talked about but I think that we have the ability to transport the players safely. I think the BCB can handle this quite well, since this is not a very difficult job,” said Mashrafe. “England have been with us from day one and I believe they will be with us now as well. They sent their team to the Under-19 World Cup,” he added.