Eoin Morgan and Alex Hales pull out of Bangladesh tour

After much speculation, England limited-overs’ skipper Eoin Morgan and opening batsman Alex Hales have made the decision to pull out of the Bangladesh tour. Citing security reasons for their decision, both players have finally made a decision following a massive amount of speculation.

The decisions as far as these two players are concerned come after a bomb went off in Dhaka a few weeks ago killing many as 20 people including a few Italians. With the ECB confirming the same, Andrew Strauss, the director of cricket for the ECB went on to name Jos as the skipper of the limited-overs’ unit. Buttler will lead England in his first captaincy assignment in three ODIs against Bangladesh with the teams set to be announced soon.

“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,” Strauss said. “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.

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As a former England skipper himself, Strauss believed that Bangladesh was indeed a safe place to play cricket upon reviewing the report submitted by Reg Dickason, the ECB security advisor. “As with all England overseas tours, the safety and security of players and staff are of the utmost importance to ECB. We will continue to monitor the situation in Bangladesh, take advice and consider the appropriate steps up to and throughout the five weeks we are on tour.”

“Would I like both our captains to be on that tour? Absolutely, definitely,” Strauss said on Wednesday. “The captain has certain roles and responsibilities that are greater than just looking after themselves. He obviously has a duty to the team. But they’re still human beings – and I think that’s an important point to make. They have their own thoughts, concerns, issues and views on life – and we’ve got to understand that.”

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