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The Aussie's tour of Pakistan has been officially cancelled.
GoEagles
9 Aug 2002, 18:06
No suprises there. Do you know if there is a deadline in deciding for a neutral venue? It would be good if the boys had come practice in October before the Ashes starts!
Booze Hound
9 Aug 2002, 19:19
Wusses.
The security risks are minimal.
As they were last year when your rugby league players started sobbing about the 'danger' of coming to the UK and the other year in Sri Lanka.
i repeat.
Wusses.
clucas91
9 Aug 2002, 19:51
That really annoys me, we would have been perfectly safe over there, just keep the name of the hotel they would have stayed at a secret or something. I am seriously beginning to doubt if anybody is going to want to participate in overseas cricket tours anymore.
I mean, there was a fuss about going to ENGLAND for god's sake!
Brett Li
9 Aug 2002, 20:51
Originally posted by clucas91
That really annoys me, we would have been perfectly safe over there, just keep the name of the hotel they would have stayed at a secret or something. I am seriously beginning to doubt if anybody is going to want to participate in overseas cricket tours anymore.
I mean, there was a fuss about going to ENGLAND for god's sake!
Careful chris, England is no place for you lily-livered aussies:D
Maybe being played in Kenya!
SeinDude
10 Aug 2002, 11:22
The bottom line here is that the ACB has a responsability to look out for our players safety and unfortunately, that couldn't be guaranteed in Pakistan.
Hopefully the series can be played on a neutral venue, and hopefully the people of Pakistan will realise that they will miss out on things like this until their country gets it's act together!!
Cheers!! :cool:
SeinDude
SeinDude
10 Aug 2002, 11:42
Australia cancels Pakistan tour
Reuters - 9 August 2002
Australia have cancelled their October Test cricket tour of Pakistan and proposed that it should be shifted to a neutral country because of security fears.
Australian Cricket Board (ACB) chief executive James Sutherland and chairman Bob Merriman made the announcement at a news conference in Melbourne.
"This morning the Australian Cricket Board directors met and decided that regretfully the Australian cricket team will not tour Pakistan for the Test series scheduled for this October," Merriman said.
Merriman said the decision was taken following advice from Australian government officials.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was currently considering its position over the prospect of a neutral venue for the series, Merriman said.
"This morning the ACB advised the PCB of our decision and we strongly re-emphasised our availability to play the Test series as scheduled in October at an alternative venue," Merriman said.
"Ultimately based on the expert government advice that we received, which highlights concerns over the safety of our team, the ACB was left with no other alternative but to advise the PCB that our team cannot tour Pakistan.
"The ACB deeply regrets the impact that such a decision has on the cricket community within Pakistan."
Concerns over security were heightened when six Pakistanis were shot dead in an attack on a school for children of foreign missionaries near Islamabad on Monday.
A string of recent cricket tours to Pakistan have been affected due to safety fears.
The triangular one-day series has already been moved to Kenya, New Zealand pulled out of its tour after a bomb attack killed 11 French people in May and a tour by West Indies was played on neutral territory in Sharjah.
The ACB confirmed on Friday that their one-day series in Nairobi involving Kenya and Pakistan would proceed as planned starting on August 29.
Merriman deflected questions from reporters about hints reported in the Pakistani media of a boycott by the Asian cricket bloc against teams refusing to tour Pakistan.
"I don't believe that I can answer that question now," Merriman said. "There are commitments to issues where you've got to comply with the 10-year plan.
"We believe that safety and security is an acceptable non-compliance. I think the question of whether there is a boycott or not a boycott is a matter that needs to go further to the ICC (International Cricket Council)."
Sutherland said it was difficult to say what impact the decision would have on relations between the Australia and Pakistan boards.
"We're disappointed that we can't meet the commitments set out under the (ICC) programme but I think everyone understands the reasons why we've come to this decision," he said.
Australia's World Cup match in Bulawayo against Zimbabwe in February is also in doubt because of security fears.
"We're extremely hopeful that we'll be able to play in Bulawayo during the World Cup but it's too early to make a judgement on that," Sutherland said.
Several senior Australia players including captain Steve Waugh have expressed concerns about touring Pakistan. Sutherland said the players had been advised of the decision and added he had spoken personally to Waugh who was understanding of the decision.
Sydneyfan
11 Aug 2002, 17:31
I don't blame the Australian cricketers at all for their decision not to tour Pakistan. Ask the New Zealand cricket team how they felt seeing the bomb explode outside their hotel and its aftermath, Stephen Fleming said he'd never get over the scenes he saw. The risk may be minimal but definite, the Australian cricket team could have definitely been a target given the amount of attention it would have created had anything occured. The fact is in Pakistan at the moment that there is a very, small minority of extreme militants who are targeting westerners and/or western interests within Pakistan. I believe that whilst the risk was minimal, it was still there and personally I wouldn't travel to Pakistan at the moment so I can't blame the cricketers.
The Australian RL team not traveling to the UK last year on the other hand was very weak IMHO. Sure, there was a very minimal chance of encountering terrorism over there but the risk that an attack would directly affect the Australian RL team was so minimal that it was close to being non existant. On the other hand, the chance of the Australian Cricket team being viewed as a potential target by extremists within Pakistan was definite, therefore I respect the ACB's decision.
Hopefully, the series will go ahead in a neutral venue, I'd pick the United Arab Emirates. Though, there's always the possibility that the Aussie cricketers wouldn't be so keen on going there either.
McAlmanac
12 Aug 2002, 13:53
Originally posted by Booze Hound
Wusses.
The security risks are minimal.
That's probably what the Kiwis thought.
clucas91
12 Aug 2002, 16:51
George Bush says that the War on Terror might last another 10 years, and with an invasion of Iraq imminent, does this mean that it will be unsafe to travel anywhere ever again? Gimme a break.
I feel sorry for Pakistan, they badly need the revenue that the Australian tour would have provided and really worry about the state of sport in that part of the world.
Sydneyfan
14 Aug 2002, 13:14
It's a bummer the ICC have ruled out using Tangier, Morocco as a possible venue for the Pakistan - Australia Test match series, it's been ruled not up to Test standard. Saw a bit of the ground on Sports Tonight last night, it looks a nice ground, currently a triangular one-day series between South Africa, India and Sri Lanka is taking place there.
Would have been good to have the Test series in a new country and promote test cricket to a new audience, though there was always the possibly that Pakistan and/or Australia wouldn't have been keen on playing there as well.
Dogwatcher
14 Aug 2002, 15:49
For chris' sake.
Pakistan is a war zone! Just because it's only a civil war doesn't mean it aint dangerous.
I didn't see England's soccer side touring Yugoslavia during the late 80s when what was happening there wasn't yet recognised as a full blown war.
As for keeping their accommodation secret, how could that possibly happen in a cricket mad nation like Pakistan.
You only have to read tour reviews/diaries by past players to realise how close the people of countries such as pakistan get to the players.
If we were having a civil war in Australia, I would expect the same treatment.
just as well the poms weren't doing a tour to Aus when the Eureka Stockade took place.
Sad, but it had to happen.
GoEagles
14 Aug 2002, 18:53
Sydneyfan - do you know if there is a website with pictures of the the Tangier stadium/pitch? I read that the ICC thinks it would be suitable for one dayers, but there are worries about the pitch for test matches.
Booze Hound
14 Aug 2002, 19:17
There's a civil war in Sri Lanka, and has been for some years. A good few teams have toured there. If you get the chance then go, it's a lovely place full of good people.
I remember back in 1984. Shortly after the assault on the Goldeb Temple in Amritsar Indhira Gandhi was killed. The England team had just started a Tour out there. The situation was far more volatile than the one in Pakistan at the moment. One evening the team attended a reception hosted by the British Ambassador, the next morning they woke to hear he had been assassinated. They spoke to the Foreign Office and on their advice, and having liased with the Indian authorities on security, they rightly continued the tour.
I suspect a great many Australian sportsmen and getting a bit precious.
Sydneyfan
14 Aug 2002, 19:58
Originally posted by GoEagles
Sydneyfan - do you know if there is a website with pictures of the the Tangier stadium/pitch? I read that the ICC thinks it would be suitable for one dayers, but there are worries about the pitch for test matches.
I did a quick just then on Google but unfortunately couldn't find any pictures of the Tangier ground. On Sports Tonight, last night from the 30 seconds or so they showed it looked like a nice ground, surrounded by parkland, though the pitch looked a bit dodgy, it looked like it was breaking up with a few cracks. Though, that's understandable considering the Moroccan greenkeepers would probably be pretty new to cricket pitch preparing, that's probably why the ICC have only approved one-day matches being played there at the moment.
Queenslander
14 Aug 2002, 20:12
Originally posted by Booze Hound
Wusses.
The security risks are minimal.
As they were last year when your rugby league players started sobbing about the 'danger' of coming to the UK and the other year in Sri Lanka.
i repeat.
Wusses.
Sour grapes eh!
Why are poms such sore lloooossssseeeeerrrrrrssssss
I reckon Steve Waugh didn't want to go to Zimbabwe or Pakistan purely to try and save his brothers career for the ashes series.
Zimbabwe is perfectly safe provided you are not a white farmer. In actual fact the serious crime rate in the major cities in Zimbabwe is lower than in South Africa so I still believe that, that tour should've gone ahead.
Dogwatcher
15 Aug 2002, 09:51
Being a white farmer, it's just as well that Geoff Marsh doesn't tour with the Aussies any more. He'd be in a for a hell of a lot of strife in zbwe
I certainly wouldn't be volunteering to go on a tour of Pakistan, would you?
Why isn't it being played in a SAFE, neutral venue?
Shame there's no Cricket of course, but the N.Z. team came close enough in my opinion.