England calls off tour....

[Anil]

Where did I disagree? We hadn't pulled out, but it was postponed basically because we clearly were going to pull out. I didn't say you were wrong - but we technically did not announce we had pulled out.

you must be joking, right?

 

[silentstriker]

SS who is in your avtar?

Trueman

 

[Xuhaib]

Trueman

aah! thought it was Fazal Mehmood the first great sub-cont fast bowler after partition.

 

[simmy]

MASSIVE decision by the ECB and KP and co...

If they decided not to go, it could have been the start of the era where noone toured the subcontinent at all...

 

[simmy]

"I think a few of the England players should reflect on what happened in their country before they start pulling out of cricket matches in India."
With more than a hint to the July 7 bombings in London three years ago, Geoff Lawson attacks England's nervousness over returning to India

Oh and this is 100% true...

 

[GIMH]

you must be joking, right?

I'm just being a pedant; the only team that came out and said, "we're pulling out!" was the Saffies.

But I accepted SS's point, as from the links he posted it is clear that we would have done the same/the fact that we and others were going to was the reason it was postponed.

 

[BoyBrumby]

I don't really know whether I'm pleased we're touring or not. If I leave aside the simple fact that, as a cricket fan, I'm chuffed to have two tests to watch in the run up to Xmas, that is.

On the one hand it is a ballsy decision to tour but I can't help but think that this does smack of a double standard WRT Pakistan. I don't know enough about the day-to-day situation in India or Pakistan to make any meaningful comparison, but the fact that there has been a very serious terrorist attack that has been reported as specifically targeting UK & US citizens is inescapable; as is the small detail of the team actually having stayed in one of the hotels that were involved.

Now there may be attacks in Pakistan too but, reliant on the fourth estate as I am, I haven't heard much about them. I think it's reasonable to assume that if anything of the scale of the Mumbai attacks had taken place it would make the western media. So, leaving aside any quibbles about the quality of governance in the respective countries, one might well come to the conclusion that for westerners the more immediate security concerns seem to be in India.

And yet...

I find it hard not to be cynical as to the reasons for the tour going ahead. In the quid pro quo world of sporting politics it now looks as if the ECB has done the BCCI as massive favour by touring and I think it would be naive to assume the former won't extract some reciprococity at some point, whether it be players being released from IPL contracts to play in the early English summer tests or the participation of Indian stars in the mooted English 2020 Premier League.

Think it's really unfair on Pakistan above everything else.

 

[Sanz]

Think it's really unfair on Pakistan above everything else.

While that is 100% correct, one must also analyze the approach in the two circumstances. This time English Players and the ECB were not under any pressure to tour from Indian side, Even the Indian fans who have been so vocal about CT tour boycotts over secutiry . But when it happened in our country our fans, players and adminstrators wanted the tour to go only if The players themselves wanted to. There was no pressure.

 

[jeevan]

Have to applaud KP and crew for their fortitude. There is a chance that the series may yet come to naught, but the English team has gone above and beyond already.

I hope this also provides an impetus for BCCI to rethink the whole Asian-non Asian bloc thing. When the chips were down, we had well wishers in the 'hostile' camp (contrast Strauss' press statement with Imran Khan's).

 

[Precambrian]

Imran Khan is not representative of Pakistani Cricket. Also note how Boycott's plea to Englishmen not to tour India now.

 

[Sanz]

Imran Khan is not representative of Pakistani Cricket..

Of Course Not, but one can not ignore the inconsistency in Imran's stand.

 

[Sanz]

I hope this also provides an impetus for BCCI to rethink the whole Asian-non Asian bloc thing. When the chips were down, we had well wishers in the 'hostile' camp (contrast Strauss' press statement with Imran Khan's).

Indeed.Let's not forget Pakistan's wicket Keeping Coach recent statements :-

“I know it’s very important for a cricketer to play in professional leagues and the Indian contests are excellent platforms but there are times when you have to sacrifice everything for the sake of your country”

My only hope is that Indian Government is listening to all this.

 

[Langeveldt]

Not impressed with the decision, as with not touring Zimbabwe and SA during Apartheid, cricket seems to have got an overinflated opinion of itself, like someone being defiant and playing a game of bat and ball in the face of danger will somehow have the terrorists quaking in their boots.. Fact is, they won't care, and some of the bullish rhetoric coming from England seems to have come straight from the George W Bush school of foreign oratory.. I have my doubts that every player is touring willingly without any form of pressure being placed on them, and I imagine the "we were pressurized into touring" stories will come thick and fast should, god forbid, anything untoward happen in India in the meantime.. When a game of bat and ball needs this kind of a security entourage and this amount of fanfair, it's time to stay at home or go somewhere that it doesn't.. Keep sport and politics separate and don't use it to make political statements..

 

[Sanz]

I have my doubts that every player is touring willingly without any form of pressure being placed on them, and I imagine the "we were pressurized into touring" stories will come thick and fast should, god forbid, anything untoward happen in India in the meantime..

Well, I hope you are proved wrong, one can only hope that the players were not pressured to tour India. It will be the wrong thing to do send players to play in such situations.

When a game of bat and ball needs this kind of a security entourage and this amount of fanfair, it's time to stay at home or go somewhere that it doesn't.. Keep sport and politics separate and don't use it to make political statements..

While I agree with the sentiment esp since it is a matter of players' lives and Players should not be made scapegoats for making a point to terrorists, it is impossible to keep sports and politics out in broader context, i.e. social, racial etc.

 

[Langeveldt]

Well, I hope you are proved wrong, one can only hope that the players were not pressured to tour India. It will be the wrong thing to do send players to play in such situations. .

I hope so too, and the sport and politics not mixing comment is clearly an "in an ideal world" one, never going to happen I agree

 

[silentstriker]

Not impressed with the decision, as with not touring Zimbabwe and SA during Apartheid,

No.

 

[Fusion]

Have to applaud KP and crew for their fortitude. There is a chance that the series may yet come to naught, but the English team has gone above and beyond already.

I hope this also provides an impetus for BCCI to rethink the whole Asian-non Asian bloc thing. When the chips were down, we had well wishers in the 'hostile' camp (contrast Strauss' press statement with Imran Khan's).

Indeed.Let's not forget Pakistan's wicket Keeping Coach recent statements :-

“I know it’s very important for a cricketer to play in professional leagues and the Indian contests are excellent platforms but there are times when you have to sacrifice everything for the sake of your country”

My only hope is that Indian Government is listening to all this.

Sigh.

England return would be a positive for subcontinent - PCB

PCB Chairman warns of divide (if England don't tour India)

Some statements of note from people actually associated with PCB on whether England should tour:

"Miandad, a former Pakistan captain, said he hoped that India was not isolated in international cricket, given that the ODI series against England was curtailed, the two-Test series hangs in the balance and the Champions League scheduled for December 3-10 has been postponed."

"[Shoaib Malik]was also hopeful that England would return to India for the Tests which would not only "be a very good decision" but would also ensure that cricket continued, even during these troubled times."

 

[silentstriker]

“I know it’s very important for a cricketer to play in professional leagues and the Indian contests are excellent platforms but there are times when you have to sacrifice everything for the sake of your country”

That's comment is just stupid. You can hit a ball and are getting paid for it. It's not fighting a war. You're not betraying your country if you choose to play professionally somewhere else.

 

[Langeveldt]

No.

Care to elaborate? I appreciate what your argument will be, but it was the state of emergency and the townships becoming ungovernable that brought down apartheid, not a bunch of middle aged men in flannels.. And Zimbabwe is just doing magnificently well since England stopped touring, isn't it?

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=79&art_id=vn20081205065711511C109080

 

[Fusion]

That's comment is just stupid. You can hit a ball and are getting paid for it. It's not fighting a war. You're not betraying your country if you choose to play professionally somewhere else.

Absolutely. A completely senseless statement from Latif.