Morgan and Hales to skip Bangladesh tour: ECB

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on Sunday confirmed that one-day captain Eoin Morgan and batsman Alex Hales will skip the Bangladesh tour due to security fears.

By refusing to tour Bangladesh, the 31-year-old Morgan has become the first England captain to pull out of a series for security reasons.

Both players confirmed their decisions to Andrew Strauss, Director of England Cricket, this weekend, says an ECB statement.

Jos Buttler, the Lancashire wicketkeeper-batsman, will captain the one-day side in Morgan’s absence.

The decision for England to undertake the five-week tour as scheduled follows a pre-tour visit to Bangladesh last month by the ECB’s Director of Security, Reg Dickason, Director of England Cricket Operations John Carr and the Chief Executive of the Professional Cricketers’ Association, David Leatherdale.

A thorough and detailed risk assessment was approved and accepted by the ECB Board and the England players and management have been fully briefed on all aspects of the safety and security arrangements.

"As with all England overseas tours, the safety and security of players and staff is of the utmost importance to ECB," said Andrew Strauss.

“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. Final selection for the Bangladesh tour will now take place on Friday.

 Travelling on 29 September, England will play three ODIs and two Test matches in Bangladesh starting on 7 October followed by five Test matches in India throughout November and December.