Bangladesh cricket team return home after NZ shooting

REUTERS - The Bangladesh cricket team arrived home on Saturday (March 16) after leaving New Zealand and narrowly avoiding being involved in the worst mass shooting in the country. The president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board Nazmul Hassan told reporters that he had told his players to go home to their families to recover from the traumatic experience and not think about playing cricket until they felt ready. A lone gunman killed 49 people and wounded more than 20 during Friday (March 15) prayers at two mosques in Christchurch in the country's worst mass shooting which Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern condemned as "a terrorist attack". The Bangladesh team were on a bus that was approaching the Al Noor mosque, where 41 people died, on the eve of the third test at nearby Hagley Oval when the shooting began. The test match, which had been scheduled to start on Saturday, was canceled after the shooting and Bangladesh's tour abandoned. Violent crime is extremely rare in New Zealand and the Bangladesh Cricket Board said the attacks had now changed their perception about team security on tours.