Ball is in Bangladesh Cricket’s court as Health Ministry sticks to its guns

Headquarters of Bangladesh Cricket Board in Dhaka

• Insists 14-day quarantine period a must for anyone entering the country

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

The ball was in the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s court after the Ministry of Health stuck to their guns and maintained the 14-day quarantine period, which is the normal course of action anyone entering the country has to undergo due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

How the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) would react to this response will largely depend on their tour to Sri Lanka taking place towards the tail end of this month.

The Bangladesh national team is due to travel to Sri Lanka on 27 September along with their emerging team well in advance to prepare for the tour, which does not begin until 24 October, when the first of three Tests is due to begin. The BCB had initially stated that it would bear the extra costs of them coming in advance but were hoping to have a shorter quarantine period.

The BCB Chief Executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury has been quoted by several websites as saying: “If it is seven days of quarantine, we can proceed with the Sri Lanka tour.”

However that is not the case now.

Sri Lanka Cricket CEO Ashley de Silva told Daily FT that they had received the document from the Ministry of Health and had shared it with the BCB and are waiting for a response from them.

“We got it on Friday, and we shared it with them yesterday (Saturday), and hopefully they will get back to us tomorrow (Monday),” de Silva said.

“They (the Ministry of Health) have basically given us guidelines, and as per the current guidelines, they feel that since it’s a government thing, they need to go through the 14 days of quarantine to ensure that there will not be any positive cases. They feel that once they get into a bubble, it is necessary for them to go through the 14 days so that when the tour commences, there won’t be any positive cases,” de Silva explained.

“If the tour is going on and there are any positive cases, then it’s going to be an issue. In any other country, that’s what happens. The 14 days of quarantine is a must. Even in the UK, once the bubble is created, they are together for the rest of the tour. 

“You need to create a bubble when they come here. For example, if a crew comes, they need to get into a bubble for 14 days, and once that bubble is cleared – and if there are no positive cases – then you are 100% sure the tour can go on. Otherwise, if someone gets positive in the bubble, then it becomes an issue,” he continued.

With regard to the extra costs the BCB may have to incur having to go through the 14-day quarantine period, de Silva said: “The cost for the 14 days, that is something that the boards will have to come to a negotiable settlement on and how it should be done. The boards have not spoken about that factor yet.”

When questioned whether the same quarantine rules would apply for the overseas players expected to take part in the Lanka Premier League that is due to take place from 14 November to 6 December, de Silva replied: “For the Lanka Premier League, there could be different guidelines. That we have still not discussed with the Health Ministry authorities. That would be a separate discussion. This is mainly only for the Bangladesh tour.”