All Cricketers to be vaccinated before New Zealand tour

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) wants to vaccinate the cricketers of the national team before the Tigers’ upcoming bilateral away tour to New Zealand. Bangladesh National Cricket Team is scheduled to fly for New Zealand at the fag’s end of the current month of February for different two formats of the game.

They will play a three-match ODI series and as many Twenty20 International matches during the month-long tour, which will be held at different six venues including Wellington, Hamilton, Napier, Christchurch, Dunedin and Oakland.

After finishing the mandatory quarantine period, Bangladesh formally will launch their mission in New Zealand, where they will go some few days before the games of the main series. But this time Tigers will hold a five-day camp in Queenstown after the end of the quarantine. Basically it works behind the deferred schedule of the series and tour as well.

According to the rescheduled fixture, Tigers will start its New Zealand tour with an ODI series. The first match of the series will begin on March 20. The remaining of the two matches of the series will be played on March 23 and 26 respectively.

There is no change in venue. As per the schedule, three matches will be decided in Dunedin, Christchurch and Wellington. The T20 matches will be played on March 20, 30 and 31 correspondingly. The matches will be held in Napier, Oakland and Hamilton.  

BCB President Nazmul Hassan Papon on Monday said the country’s national cricketers will be vaccinated on a priority basis tour if they enlist their names for the vaccination. But Papon also said if the players want to take the corona vaccine, they will get it but it is not mandatory for the cricketers.

Papon himself was vaccinated at Kurmitola General Hospital on Monday after which the BCB President said, “Cricketers are not being forced to take vaccines, it’s their choice.”

Meanwhile, it is learnt that half of the cricketers on the New Zealand tour have also been vaccinated for the coronavirus. Papon informed that the rest of the cricketers can get if they want.

“More than 50 percent of the national cricketers have been vaccinated on Sunday. The rest were a bit hesitant. The rest of the players can give their opinion by 2pm on Monday. In that case, they will get the vaccine by tomorrow  (Monday) or the day after tomorrow (Tuesday),” Papon said further.

In addition, the mass vaccination in the country started on February 8 following the official rollout inaugurated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasan on January 27 amid the considerable skepticism about the side effects of vaccines.