England cancels practice matches before Bangladesh series

England Cricket Team (Source: AP Newsroom)

With an eye on the World Cup 2023, England are scheduled to tour Bangladesh for three-match ODI and T20I series that will boost their preparation for the mega-event scheduled in the subcontinent.

However, before the beginning, the Jos Buttler-led side were given two practice games ahead of the tour on 24th and 26th February to be played at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Bangladesh but the visitors have now called off the matches as they want to directly get involved with the international matches.

The news was confirmed by Bangladesh Cricket Board director Nizamuddin Chowdhury who spoke about their plans.

"England informed that they are planning to restrict their tour with official matches and we are planning accordingly,"

Moreover, Sylhet cricket stadium has not hosted any cricket for a while, the disappointment was evident on Sylhet Division's representative Shafiul Alam Chowdhury Nadel's face. Chowdhury mentioned that it wasn't possible due to scheduling issues.

"We have some plans, while touring team have some demands, and after taking everything into consideration, we select the venues. From that point, we had a plan to play practice games of England and we were planning to hold that in Sylhet. But, eventually, England team are only willing to play the official matches and so that could not be materialized.

"We are hosting Ireland in Sylhet, so this is not a fact that we are not using that venue and we want to use every venue by playing it at different times."

England are currently involved in the ODI series against South Africa after which their next one-day assignment would be against Bangladesh beginning on the 1st of March.

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