Snipers, tanks to protect England cricket team in Bangladesh

The England cricket team will be protected by snipers and tanks when they travel to Bangladesh for their tour. According to the Mail Online the whole team will be overseen by security personals supported by the Bangladesh Police and the army who will ensure that a ‘ring of steel’ will be formed around the hotels in Chittagong and Dhaka.

The Australians turned down the offer to travel to Bangladesh last October after some security organizations informed Cricket Australia of a terrorist attack and a couple of English players including current One-Day-Internationals skipper Eoin Morgan and Alex Hales have decided against the trip to Bangladesh.

The Mail Online, in a report wrote that “covert snipers” will be stationed around the hotels of the players and that “players will not be permitted to leave team hotels, apart from for training and on match days, with the team coach set to be closely guarded by Bangladesh police.”

"The safety and security of players and management are always paramount - whenever and wherever any of our teams are touring," an English Cricket Board spokesperson was quoted by stuff.co.nz. "Ahead of the Bangladesh tour the ECB has received a thorough, in-depth risk assessment from our Director of Security, with a detailed briefing on security commitments.”

"Intelligence and insight is drawn from a wide range of sources – including government agencies, military and security services."First it was raised by Morgan that he would want to go to a place which has experienced a deadly terror attack only a few months back. Out of favour English batsman Kevin Pietersen also came out to voice his support for the captain saying he would have done the same.

A risk assessment security team was sent by ECB who toured Bangladesh and deemed the country safe for a five-week tour to take place. Earlier, there were concerns raised by the ECB after an attack on a Dhaka Cafe in July where terrorists killed 22 people.

England will be reaching Bangladesh on September 30 for two Test matches and three One-Day Internationals but will be without two of their key players Morgan and Hales. Director of England cricket Andrew Strauss in a statement said "Whilst we understand and respect Eoin and Alex's decision, we are disappointed that they have made themselves unavailable for selection for the Bangladesh tour."

"We have had open and honest conversations with all the players about the security arrangements in Bangladesh and at this stage we are not expecting any other individuals to withdraw from the tour."The final selection for the tour will be done on Friday. Jos Buttler will lead the side.