Aussies arrive amid tight security in Bangladesh

Australia's cricket team arrived in Dhaka late on Friday night under tight security for their first Test tour of Bangladesh in more than a decade.

Bangladesh Cricket Board chief executive officer Nizamuddin Chowdhury said Steven Smith's men landed at Dhaka airport at 10:50 pm (1650 GMT) under blanket police protection.

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"Since the team landed it was given the security as we've promised. We are confident everything will go according to our plan," he told AFP.

Police said some 300 members of elite police units were on guard as the Australians landed at Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjahal International Airport.

"We've adequate security arrangements at the airport. We've even cleared the road (leading to the team's hotel)," Inspector Moslem Uddin of the Armed Police Battalion told AFP. 

The team's arrival came a day after Bangladesh's elite commando unit held their latest training exercise at Dhaka's Shere-e-Bangla stadium, site of the first Test, that involved heavily armed men landing on the field by helicopter and escorting people to safety.

Australia have not played a Test in Bangladesh since Ricky Ponting's team visited in 2006, six years after Bangladesh were granted Test status.

Image Id: ~/media/9D53C5F0B142419082D13156B6622E18 Image Caption: Jason Gillespie celebrates his double ton in 2006 // Getty

They were due to play two Tests in Bangladesh in October 2015 but the tour was cancelled amid security fears after a wave of attacks by Islamist extremists.

Australia refused to send their team to last year's Under-19 World Cup in Dhaka over security worries.

Cricket Australia agreed to reschedule the series this year only after Bangladesh promised head-of-state style security.

CA's security manager Sean Carroll visited Bangladesh at least three times over the past 12 months to see the security measures before the Australian authorities confirmed the series. 

Carroll, who is part of the 32-member Australian party, arrived in Dhaka early to ensure everything was in order for the two Test tour.

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The visitors are scheduled to play a warm-up match on August 22-23 before they take on Bangladesh in the first Test at Sher-e Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka on August 27.

The second Test will be played at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong from September 4.

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The Aussies will leave Bangladesh on September 9 after the end of two-match Test series, where the Test players named in the ODI squad yesterday will head directly to neighbouring India for a series there.

Australia in Bangladesh 2017

Australia squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Ashton Agar, Jackson Bird, Hilton Cartwright, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Renshaw, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade.

Bangladesh squad: Mushfiqur Rahim (c), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Shakib Al Hasan, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Sabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Liton Das, Mosaddek Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Shafiul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman.

22-23 August Tour match, TBC

27-31 August First Test, Dhaka

4-8 September Second Test, Chittagong