London, Dhaka: Eoin Morgan will have until the end of Saturday to change his stance on the upcoming tour Bangladesh, with the England one-day captain having now officially discussed his reluctance to make the trip with Andrew Strauss, the director of cricket.

Morgan has let it be known that despite the monthlong trip having been cleared by the England and Wales Cricket Board’s security director, Reg Dickason, he is not comfortable leading the team for the three-match series that begins on October 7, with Jos Buttler, the vice-captain, now lined up to deputise in his absence.

Morgan and the opener Alex Hales, another known to be considering his withdrawal, were among the first group of contracted England Test and one-day players to attend the England academy in Loughborough on Friday for their regular end of season medicals and the contract appraisals with Strauss.

It was during the latter that the issue of Bangladesh was due to be discussed and, once the second group of players complete their sessions on Saturday, Strauss and the selectors will have their list of who available for the tour. An announcement on any withdrawals is then expected to be made on Sunday.

Morgan is understood to have explained his reluctance to tour with the one-day squad during the recent one-day series with Pakistan and it remains highly unlikely this stance — which has been informed by bad experiences on the subcontinent in the past and the fact England will be the first side to tour Bangladesh since the 1 July attacks in Dhaka — will have been reversed.

How a withdrawal by Morgan, who turns 30 on Saturday, affects his future captaincy remains to be seen, with one former England skipper, Nasser Hussain, suggesting his future authority may be affected. He is a popular leader as things stand, having overseen an upturn in fortunes for the limited overs side since the 2015 World Cup.

While Strauss has warned players that pulling out of the tour means risking another taking their place on cricketing grounds, both he and the ECB have assured them that any such decision will not be held against them in future and Morgan is unlikely to be stood down as a result.

The fact that central contracts for 2016-17 are yet to be awarded and these annual appraisals in Loughborough will inform the ECB’s decision on who gets what has not been lost on the players as they give their decision on whether they will tour.

Recipients of the deals, which are expected to include specialist limited overs contracts for the first time this year, will be named at the end of the month.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh made fresh assurances Friday that England’s cricketers would be accorded top-level security on their controversial upcoming tour amid growing doubts over whether ODI skipper Morgan will travel.

The tour, which begins on September 30 and will include two Tests and three ODIs, had been called into question after an attack in July on a cafe in Dhaka in which 20 hostages were killed, including 18 foreigners.

But England’s board gave it their go-ahead following a fact-finding visit to Bangladesh by their security expert and most of the players, including Test skipper Alistair Cook, are understood to be ready to make the trip.

The main question mark is over Morgan who gave his strongest hint yet on Thursday that he will stay home as he recounted how two previous scares had made him weary of ever jeopardising his personal safety again.

Bangladesh Cricket Board chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury said it was “the prerogative of the England and Wales Cricket Board who they will send” but made clear he would be disappointed if key players stayed away.

“We just hope they will send the best available squad, which we expect to be competitive,” Chowdhury told AFP.

Another senior board official, speaking on condition of anonymity, gave an outline of some of the measures being put in place to ensure the team’s safety which are usually reserved for visiting heads of state.

While requesting that the details not be made public, the official said “there would be nothing to worry about” for the tourists.

Chowdhury recalled how the board had managed to stage a trouble-free Under-19 World Cup earlier this year by also beefing up security.

“As you all know some countries had expressed their concern during that tournament also. But we successfully managed to convince them to come here and hosted the tournament without any incident.

“England will be given the same security as we had during the tournament when additional measures were put in place,” he said without elaborating.

Australia pulled out of the Under-19 World Cup in January and their place was taken by Ireland.

Australia’s senior team also pulled out of a series in October last year over safety fears and Bangladesh, the newest Test-playing nation, has been desperate to ensure that England does not follow their example.

They are determined to avoid the fate of Pakistan who — apart from a lone series against Zimbabwe — have not hosted any international cricket since gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan team bus during a 2009 Test in Lahore.

Although Morgan has yet to rule himself out, he has admitted that memories of a bomb blast during one of his matches in India in 2010 and a bout of deadly political violence while he was playing in a Bangladeshi domestic tournament three years ago were weighing heavily on his mind.