Australia, England, New Zealand to tour Bangladesh later this year for T20Is - Report

Bangladesh are set to host Australia, England, and New Zealand later this year ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup in October, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) confirmed on Wednesday.

While the BCB have formerly announced their home series against Australia, the board will make formal announcements about England and New Zealand series after the dates are confirmed by the respective cricket boards, as reported by ESPN Cricinfo.

India is set to host a second consecutive edition of the T20 World Cup after hosting the previous one in 2016.

"Both boards (CA and BCB) have agreed in principle for Australia's tour of Bangladesh before the World Cup T20, which is going to be held in October. It has been scheduled as such. Ahead of the World Cup T20, England, Australia and New Zealand will tour Bangladesh, but a tri-series hasn't yet been decided. This tour will be Australia's first in Bangladesh since 2017. I think we had a commitment with Australia that they would play two Tests and two T20Is. Since we could fit the T20s we will increase it to three," BCB's chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury was quoted by Cricinfo, as saying in an interview.

"It is not that it is replacing anything. We would have fit in a Test match if there was enough space. It will be good preparation for us ahead of the World T20. We have an opportunity to play some high-profile teams," he added in the interview.

As per the Men's Future Tour Programme (FTP) published by the International Cricket Council (ICC), England are scheduled to tour Bangladesh in October for three One-Day Internationals (ODIs) (as part of the ICC's ODI Super League) and three T20Is.

"It should be clarified that most of the FTP commitments currently are for the World Test Championships and the ODI competition (ODI Super League). There's a guideline to complete the WTC matches before the final in June. The guideline to arrange those matches has been extended to April, from March.

To fit in these postponed series, both teams have to be available. At the moment only Sri Lanka is available till April. It is not possible to fit in the rest of the (postponed) matches. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are free in April so we are trying to schedule the two or three Tests of the WTC during that time," Chowdhury added in the same interview.