Australia have called off hosting Bangladesh later this year for financial reasons, arguing that it no longer makes sense to play top-end matches, usually played in north Queensland and the Northern Territory, out of season because they get "swamped" by the major football codes.
The ICC's Future Tours Program (FTP) had Australia down to play two Tests and three ODIs at home against Bangladesh in August and September 2018, the latter's first bilateral tour down under since 2003. However, the trip was scrapped because Australian free-to-air broadcasters are understood to be uninterested in televising the series in the middle of the football season. Cricket Australia communicated to the BCB that the tour was not "commercially viable".
Such a decision, which mirrors the BCCI's refusal to play a day-night Test in contravention of CA's wishes, sums up the ad hoc manner in which bilateral tours have been organised and cancelled at various points in recent history, invariably at the expense of the less financially strong countries.
