LONDON: England will not force any player to tour Bangladesh, limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan said, in the wake of the July 1 attack on a Dhaka cafe in which 22 people were killed.

England’s one-day squad will receive a briefing on Thursday from a three-member panel which toured Bangladesh to assess security for the series, comprising three one-dayers and two Tests there in October.

Along with Morgan, Test captain Alastair Cook and team members will meet the England and Wales Cricket Board ECB)’s security director Reg Dickason to discuss the matter.

“I don’t think anybody will ever be forced to go on a particular tour,” Morgan told BBC Radio 5 live. “I think it’s important for us to get together as a group, and be informed by people who we trust in order to make the right decisions and go from there.”

Australia pulled out of their tour of Bangladesh last year over security concerns and did not compete in the under-19 World Cup in the south Asian country for the same reason.

England’s one-day team is scheduled to leave for Bangladesh on Sept 30 and Morgan had full faith in the wisdom of the ECB.

“I’m pretty open-minded,” Morgan said.“You can’t really rule out anything until you hear from the people that you trust.

“The ECB have made decisions over the years that have held us in good stead — we’ve never been in any danger before.”

An attack in Dhaka last month claimed by the Islamic State group saw 20 hostages killed, including nine Italians, and Australia have cancelled senior and under-19 tours of Bangladesh in the past year.

“They’ll debrief us on the findings on both tours [Bangladesh and India] and we’ll chat about it. It has to be quite open,” Morgan said in comments reported by British media on Wednesday.

“People have missed tours in the past so you have to make guys feel safe to go. It’s a decision you’d rather get out of the way sooner rather than later.

“There’s always room for a personal decision. You also have to understand guys might have different priorities.”

Bowlers Andy Caddick and Robert Croft pulled out of England’s tour of India in 2001 for security reasons, while England forfeited a World Cup match against Zimbabwe in 2003 after refusing to play in Harare.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2016