Bangladesh reach venue for friendly against China, but opponents fail to show up

Bangladesh's women's cricket team had a bizarre experience on Saturday, arriving well ahead of schedule for a friendly match against China, only to discover their opponents had no intention of turning up.

The team reached the ground at 7:30am ahead of a planned 9am start, expecting a practice fixture arranged specifically at China's own request in the buildup to the tournament.

Team manager Faiyaz Ahmed described the confusion that unfolded once Bangladesh's players arrived at the venue.

"We came to the ground at 7:30am for the 9am match. When we arrived, we heard the curator saying the match would not take place," he said.

It soon became apparent that China simply had not travelled to the venue at all, leaving officials and players alike without any clear explanation for the no show.

"After a while, we learned that China would not come," Faiyaz added.

Bangladesh's chef de mission Imroz Ahmed confirmed the fixture had originally been arranged following a request from the Olympic Council of Asia, with the Bangladesh Cricket Board agreeing to the match once terms were finalised on both sides.

Imroz said he had since raised the matter with tournament organisers, though no reason had been offered for China's absence.

"The OCA had requested us to play a warm up match against them. We contacted the BCB and agreed to play the match. After completing everything, they have now not come. I have informed the OCA about this," he said.

With the scheduled opponents absent, Bangladesh simply used the allotted session time to train instead, shifting their focus towards Sunday's semi final against India rather than dwelling on the wasted fixture.

The mix up follows an already unusual route to the last four for Bangladesh, who advanced to the semi finals without playing a single ball after their original quarter final against China was washed out by persistent rain in Nagoya.

Bangladesh progressed on that occasion by virtue of holding a higher position in the ICC's T20I rankings at the time.