Get Instant News Updates
Enable
x
Notification Settings X
Time Settings
Done
Clear Notification X
Do you want to clear all the notifications from your inbox?
Settings X
For Quick Alerts
ALLOW NOTIFICATIONS  
For Daily Alerts
 

NZ Sports Minister hopes Bangladesh will return to play to his country

The Bangladesh cricket team's tour of New Zealand was called off on March 15 after the players had a narrow escape from a shooting attack on a Christchurch mosque which left 50 people dead.

By Pti
New Zealand Sports Minister Grant Robertson

Auckland, March 22: New Zealand Sports Minister Grant Robertson Thursday (March 21) said that Bangladesh cricketers and supporters will feel safe to return to the country in the near future after the visiting team had a narrow escape from the Christchurch mosque shootings.

"My hope is that in time the players and supporters will feel safe enough to return to New Zealand and I know that they know that they will be welcomed with open arms," Robertson was quoted as saying by stuff.co.nz.

Bangladesh are scheduled to play a T20 International series in New Zealand in October next year.

Robertson said he had emphasised in his letters that "violence and hatred shown by one individual must not be allowed to destroy the friendship and respect that the New Zealand and Bangladesh cricket teams and our nations have long shared."

The Bangladesh cricket team's tour of New Zealand was called off on March 15 after the players had a narrow escape from a shooting attack on a Christchurch mosque which left 50 people dead.

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, who was named the Test Player of the Year during the New Zealand Cricket's award function here, said that the act of violence made cricket insignificant last Friday (March 15).

"It had been a nice competitive series for a month and for things to end the way it did, cricket as a whole became insignificant," he said.

"There was an opposition team we'd spent time with on the park who have pretty much witnessed what went on and felt threatened in a place you want anybody to feel comfortable. To end like that, it was such a shame and I know all the guys felt terrible."

Story first published: Friday, March 22, 2019, 9:13 [IST]
Other articles published on Mar 22, 2019