Ireland have been invited to take Australia’s place at the Under-19 Cricket World Cup in Bangladesh later this month.
The Australians withdrew from the tournament because of concerns over the "safety and security" of the squad, Cricket Australia said in statement on Tuesday.
The International Cricket Council said that it will continue to prepare for this month’s ICC U19 Cricket World Cup Bangladesh 2016 despite the Australia withdrawal and explained that its own security manager and an independent security agency had been working very closely with the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and the Bangladesh security agencies.
In a statement released today the ICC said: "The planned security arrangements satisfactorily mitigate the risks identified such that it remains appropriate for the event to continue as planned.
"The ICC further announced that it has invited Ireland, as the runner-up in the qualifying event in Kuala Lumpur in October, to replace Australia in the 19-day tournament."
A story on the Cricket Ireland website stated that "Cricket Ireland is currently assessing the implications of Ireland’s participation in the event based on the logistics and security arrangements for the tournament, and is liaising with the relevant authorities in this regard.
"The planned security arrangements satisfactorily mitigate the risks identified such that it remains appropriate for the event to continue as planned"
"Cricket Ireland hopes to make a statement on Ireland’s participation in the tournament as soon as possible."
Ireland missed out on automatic qualification after losing the European final to Scotland, before missing out at the final qualifier, where they were beaten by Nepal.
Australia postponed a test tour of Bangladesh in October for similar reasons and Cricket Australia (CA) Chief Executive James Sutherland said the situation had not improved.
"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," he said in the statement.
"In the end, with all of the information and advice we have received, we feel we had no alternative other than to make this difficult decision."
