Players in shock at horror of attack

Members of the Bangladesh cricket team have described how they had to run for safety after witnessing horrors “straight out of a movie scene” during the Christchurch terror attacks.

The team had just arrived at the Al Noor Mosque for Friday prayer when a gunman opened fire, and after hiding on the team bus for nearly 10 minutes, they fled to nearby Hagley Oval, where the now-cancelled third cricket test was set to take place.

Bangladesh’s team manager and former captain Khaled Mashud said the team “were really lucky”.

“Had we reached even three or four minutes earlier, we probably would have been inside the mosque. We are very thankful that we weren’t caught in the crossfire, but what we saw was straight out of a movie scene. We could see bloodstained people staggering out of the mosque. Maybe for about 8-10 minutes, we were all inside the bus and were sitting with our heads bowed, just in case someone fires at us.

“Then at that point we realised that if they came out of the mosque and [started shooting], we’d be in trouble. We came and ran to the ground.”

Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal was on the bus, calling for assistance, and said it will take a while for the players to get over what they saw.

“It was very sad, what happened was very unfortunate and the worst part was we were watching all those things happening.

“It was very scary, it will take time to get over it, but what can you do? Just pray for the victims that have lost their lives and pray for their families.”

Bangladesh coach Steve Rhodes said the squad were still in shock.

“The whole experience has cut up the whole team and staff, everybody just totally feels for the people concerned and the families concerned and the ones left behind, sadly losing some wonderful people.”

The Bangladesh team left Christchurch at midday on a flight to Dhaka, and while happy to be heading home to their families, Mashud said they wanted to pass on their support to the New Zealand people.

It was the first time a test held in New Zealand had been cancelled, while a domestic four-day Plunket Shield game was also called off after Canterbury withdrew from their finalround match against Wellington scheduled to begin today.

That means Central Districts will be crowned champions regardless of their result against Northern Districts.