Eoin Morgan still undecided on Bangladesh tour

Eoin Morgan on Friday (September 2) said that his designation as the skipper of England's limited-overs sides will have no influence on players' decision to tour Bangladesh for the forthcoming series in October. Morgan, who is undecided on his participation in the series due to security concerns raised by terrorist attacks in Dhaka in July this year, opined that the resolution to travel to the sub-continent country will need to be taken at an individual level.


England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) was slated to name the squad for the travelling side by September 9 but has since deferred that announcement to September 13 in a bid to give the players, currently in the middle of a limited-overs series against Pakistan, sufficient time to process the security briefing for the trip, that was given to the players last week by Reg Dickason, the board's security director.
 
"It is a completely individual thing," Morgan said, when asked if players were looking up to him for guidance on the decision making. "The decision any individual makes within the side is the right one and everybody will stand by whoever wants to go or not. I think that is very important. In that week [since the security briefing] we have not had a great deal of time to think about it. We have played a number of one-day games and not had a great deal of downtime. I think we will take as much time as we need to make a decision and to feel comfortable and to feel safe.
 
"If we'd had time off or no cricket between the meeting and now I can't say I would be any closer to the decision but I would have had more time to digest everything and let everything settle," Morgan said.
 
England, who are reported to be planning on resting several top players including star batsman Joe Root and all-rounder Moeen Ali ahead of the all-important tour of India, will have the services of Test captain Alastair Cook, who confirmed his participation for the latter half of the tour. Trevor Bayliss and his assistant, Paul Farbrace, have also communicated their decision to travel for the entirety of the series to ECB Director of Cricket, Andrew Strauss.
 
Morgan, however, said he will arrive at a well-informed conclusion only after settling down after the completion of the hectic international summer of cricket at home. "Reluctant isn't the word. I think when so much information is thrown at you within two months of a terrorist attack, you need to be settled within yourself so you can go there and concentrate on cricket," he said.
 
Should Morgan not travel with the squad for the Bangladesh tour, Jos Buttler, his deputy, could be in line for England captaincy. England play three One-Day Internationals and two Tests in Bangladesh, starting October 7.