Australia pull out of the U-19 World Cup

Australia have pulled out of the ICC Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh, scheduled for later this month, due to security concerns. This comes after Australia's senior men's side postponed their scheduled tour of Bangladesh in October due to security fears and CA have monitored the situation in the country ever since.

Having also consulted with the Australian government, Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland says the decision was made to withdraw from the tournament.

"We have always maintained that the safety and security of Australian teams and officials is our number-one priority," Sutherland said in a statement.

"For some time we have been working closely with ICC security advisors and monitoring the security situation in Bangladesh and have been keeping our players, officials and the players' parents as up to date as possible. Regrettably, the advice from our Government suggests that the security threat to Australians travelling to Bangladesh remains as high now as it was when we postponed the Test team’s tour of that country late last year.

"Included in that is reliable information suggesting there is a high threat to Australian interests in Bangladesh."