The International Cricket Council knockout tournament, with a sponsor's name to be added shortly, will be played in Dhaka between Oct 26 and Nov 4. England will take part, along with all the Test countries, on their way to Australia.
It was Jagmohan Dalmiya, president of the ICC, who announced the switch to Bangladesh in a press statement yesterday. The change comes only three weeks after a meeting of the ICC's Management Committee in Calcutta which decided to abandon the unequal struggle to play the tournament in Florida and to hold it in Sharjah instead.
A master in the art of squeezing maximum profits from one-day tournaments, Dalmiya said: ``This special event is being run for one purpose only - to raise a large sum to fund the introduction of the ICC development programme. It is important that we aim to maximise the return for cricket. There are some restrictions on sponsorship in Sharjah which will significantly reduce the income and for this reason countries have adjusted their programmes to permit the ICC knockout tournament to be scheduled in Dhaka.''
Dalmiya added that the ICC wished to record ``deep appreciation'' to various boards for altering plans: Pakistan have adjusted dates for Australia's visit in October; England agreed to divert to Bangladesh; Zimbabwe to postpone a visit from the West Indies; and India to make a compensatory visit to Zimbabwe in October.
The sponsorship difficulties in Sharjah are undoubtedly related to the fact that an Islamic state would not countenance patronage from alcohol or tobacco companies. Television and sponsorship contracts are still to be finalised but the ICC hope to make a profit of well over £1 million from an event geared specifically to raising money for development of the game in parts of Asia, North America and Africa. David Richards, the chief executive, said it was ``not set in stone'' that this would be the only tournament of its kind, although some of the World Cup profits will also go to the development fund in future.
The fact that England can make the tournament part of their outward journey to Australia is convenient in one respect, in that it will save them from making a separate journey in what is already the busiest single year of international cricket in which they have ever been involved. The England Cricket Board will, however, have to make a difficult decision on whether to treat this as part of the preparation and acclimatization for Australia or to consider it another tournament for which one-day specialists are required.
Simon Pack, the international tours director, said yesterday that a draft of Australia's proposed tour programme is due imminently. The first Test, usually at Brisbane, is expected at the end of November and England will want to concentrate on two innings cricket in the relatively short warm-up period before a game which often dictates the course of the Ashes series.
The Board will be anxious to avoid pitfalls previously encountered in Australia such as a match in the chilly temperatures of Hobart immediately before a Test in sub-tropical Queensland, but there will probably be no avoiding the need to cater, in their selection, both for the Tests and the now customary triangular one-day tournament in mid-tour.
RAJESH CHAUHAN, the off-spinner dropped by India because of fears that he would be called for throwing, is not the only player who has been 'warned off' by the International Cricket Council.
Another off-spinner, Kumara Dharmasena of Sri Lanka, is also the subject of doubts by the special committee on suspect actions.
Two other Sri Lankan spinners, Muttiah Muralitharan and Kelaniyage Silva, were reported to the panel by the former Australian captain and coach Bobby Simpson, referee in the India v Sri Lanka Tests before Christmas.
Muralitharan has been passed by the panel but the ICC have recommended that Chauhan and Dharmasena not be selected until 'remedial action' has been taken.