Buttler terms BD issue ‘new ground’

LONDON: The controversy surrounding England’s decision to tour Bangladesh despite security concerns on Friday overshadowed their ongoing ODI series against Pakistan.

That was apparent when England’s Jos Buttler was bombarded with questions over this development even though he was at a press conference here at Lord’s to discuss about his team’s second ODI against Pakistan.

Buttler admitted that his team-mates have been forced to think about issues they have not previously considered, after the tour to Bangladesh was given the go-ahead but with the option remaining open for individuals to decide if they would travel.

Buttler would be a certain selection for the one-day leg of the Bangladesh trip, but would not comment on whether he would tour despite describing the meeting as “positive”.

“There are things that people have probably never even considered before about cricket, and things people probably didn’t realise went on for every single tour we go on,” he told reporters. “They are normally never privy to these conversations behind the scenes.

“It’s probably new ground for a lot of people, some guys in the meeting - Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook - were part of the team that went back to India in 2008 so have been in this situation before and probably know how to deal with it. But it’s new ground for people and it’s important we try to deal with it the best we can.

“It was a positive meeting with lots of information to digest. All you can say is it’s something you have to digest. It’s tricky for us at the moment, we’ve got a game tomorrow and international cricket needs your full focus to perform well.”