Bangladesh’s upcoming tour of New Zealand was postponed by a week on Thursday. The host country’s cricket board said that it was due to coronavirus- related ‘challenges’ and to allow sufficient preparation time.
According to the revised schedule, Bangladesh will play three ODIs and an equal number of T20I between March 20 and April 1.
New Zealand Cricket stated that the change in tour schedules was because of the ‘ongoing challenges in the current COVID-19 environment and the need to allow visiting sides adequate preparation for international commitment.’
“To accommodate the necessary logistics, the Bangladesh tour will now begin seven days later than initially scheduled, following a five-day training camp at Queenstown, with matches to be played at the venues first planned, but on different dates,” the NZC said in a statement.
This will be Bangladesh’s first visit to New Zealand after the 2019 tour was cut short due to shooting attack on a mosque, which the players narrowly avoided the day before the scheduled third Test at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval.
The first ODI will be played at Dunedin’s University Oval on March 20, while the second one day match on March 23 will be played at Hagley Oval and third match at Basin Reserve, Wellington on March 26.
While the first T20I will be played on March 28 at Seddon Park, Hamilton, the second at McLean Par, Napier on March 30 and third at Eden Park, Auckland on April 1.
The NZC also made few changes in the schedule of Australian women’s team’s limited-overs tour of New Zealand.