Aussies pull out

by

January 06, 2016

Photo

Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer Andre Ellis (left) accountant at the Jamaica Cricket Association, saying good luck to Jamaica's Under-19 West Indies players Odean Smith (second left), Michael Frew (second right) and Shahid Crooks as they prepared to depart for Barbados yesterday to meet up with the rest of the squad for the Under-19 Cricket World Cup in Bangladesh.

MELBOURNE, Australia, CMC:

Australia have withdrawn from the forthcoming Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh because of security concerns. The World Cup, due to start January 27, also involves West Indies, who completed a two-week training camp in Grenada last month.

Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive James Sutherland said the decision was based on advice from the government.

"For some time, we have been working closely with ICC security advisers and monitoring the security situation in Bangladesh and have been keeping our players, officials and the players' parents as up to date as possible," Sutherland said.

"Regrettably, the advice from our government suggests that the security threat to Australians travelling to Bangladesh remains as high now as it was when we postponed the Test team's tour of that country late last year".

No other team is known to have expressed any interest in pulling out of the tournament.

The ICC has expressed disappointment but said it respects CA's decision.

Guyana left-hander Shimron Hetmyer is leading the West Indies Under-19 squad in the tournament which, runs from January 22 to February 4.