pakspin.com

Pakistan’s tour of Bangladesh postponed

Pakistan’s tour of Bangladesh, due to start next week, has been postponed on the advice of the Bangladesh government. Officials are hopeful that the tour will be held soon and are working on a revised security plan in consultation with the ICC.

The postponement comes two days after Pakistan’s home series against Sri Lanka was abandoned, following an attack on the visiting team bus that left eight dead and several cricketers and officials injured.

Bangladesh Cricket Board officials think the tour could take place as early as end-March. “We had been making all necessary preparations for the tour when we were advised by the home ministry to postpone it for the time being,” Jalal Yunus, chairman of the board’s media and communications committee, said. “We are now working with the PCB and our government agencies to chalk out a new schedule.”

Yunus said the ICC had asked the Bangladesh board to make some changes in the security plan for the series. The board is currently working on this.

It is not clear if the decision to postpone the tour is connected to the Lahore attack or to the recent violence in Bangladesh. A mutiny last month by Bangladesh Rifles border guards over pay and the command structure resulted in widespread violence that killed at least 80 people, including more than 50 officers.

Saleem Altaf, a Pakistan board official, said the reason behind the decision was not yet known. “Bangladesh have conveyed their decision to us without giving any reason,” he told AFP. “We are told they are revising the tour itinerary and the series will be held after some delay.

Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman, told reporters he expected a revised itinerary from the Bangladesh board soon. “Every country discusses the security situation with its government. We did ask for clearance for the tour from our government. The International Cricket Council (ICC) have asked them to implement a plan so they needed time.

“Bangladesh will come back to us and we (will) hopefully get a revised itinerary later Thursday.”

Pakistan were scheduled to play two Twenty20s and five ODIs between March 10 and March 22. Pakistan and Bangladesh are co-hosts, along with India and Sri Lanka, of the 2011 World Cup.

Morgan admits ‘level of security was not as expected’

	David Morgan: ‘We were satisfied as were the Sri Lankan board. Sadly, it would seem it was not as expected’ © Getty Images

ICC president David Morgan has said that “it would seem the level of security was not as expected” at the time of the terrorist attack in Lahore on Tuesday.

Speaking to the BBC, Morgan said that ahead of the Pakistan-Sri Lanka series the usual checks had been undertaken. “Our people were in touch with the Pakistan board and had assurances of presidental level security. We were satisfied as were the Sri Lankan board. Sadly, it would seem it was not as expected.”

Asked about comments made by Pakistan board chairman Ijaz Butt in which he claimed the security was adequete  Morgan was non committal. “I have spoken with Ijaz Butt and I think his views are well known,” Morgan said. “I also spoke with Mahela Jayawardene [Sri Lanka's captain] and I had his account of security, and also Chris Broad, and I think it would be wrong for me to comment on widely-differing accounts.”

He said that a full report would be ready by the time the ICC executive next met in Dubai on April 17. “I am included to have representatives of the two teams to give first-hand accounts to us when we meet,” he added.

Morgan dismissed suggestions that the ICC should take responsibility for all security. “I doubt that could be put into effect … for bilateral tours the duty of care lies with the employer and it’s the home board that employs the players. The ICC only becomes involved when host and visitor disagree about security.”

(more…)

Kill cricket, create terrorists, warns Younis

	Younis Khan has warned that, without cricket, extremism in Pakistan will grow © AFP

Younis Khan has appealed to cricket’s administrators to save the game in Pakistan, or risk pushing future generations into the clutches of terrorists. The Pakistan captain fears that an extended boycott by touring teams could lead to a dramatic decline in interest and participation in cricket among the nation’s youth. That, in turn, could invite corrupting influences to fill the void that might otherwise have been occupied by sport, Younis argued.

“Our future as a nation is in our youngsters’ hands,” Younis told Cricinfo. “Sport helps to make good human beings. If the sport is not there, the children can do silly things. We have to be very careful about that. Nobody wants to see children going down a bad path and finding themselves involved with bombs and things like that. We all must do something to stop that happening.

“Maybe in the future we will be alone [as a cricketing nation] and that would be very sad, especially for the youngsters. When I was a boy, I loved watching Imran Khan, Javed Miandad and Wasim Akram playing against great teams from overseas. It is because of them - seeing them play - that I also played the game. But what if no one comes to Pakistan? How will the youngsters know about the game? What will they do?

“I appeal for all the bosses and the ICC not let cricket die here. They must think about all the factors, including what will become of the youngsters of Pakistan. It would be very easy right now for the ICC and the bosses to say there will be no cricket in Pakistan. But the future will not be good if cricket is taken away from my country.”

Butt accuses Broad of lies over lax security

	Ijaz Butt: ‘All his [Broad's] statements are false. He has now made obnoxious comments’ © AFP

Ijaz butt, the PCB chairman, has accused Chris Broad  of lying in claiming that security was lax for the visiting team and officials in Lahore.

Broad said on Wednesday that players and officials arriving for the Test were not provided sufficient protection despite assurances given by the PCB.

Butt, though, disputed Broad’s account. “It is a big lie that there were no policemen. A commando jumped over Broad and saved his life. The commando was hurt so if there was no policeman, how come Broad was saved?

“All his [Broad's] statements are false. He has now made obnoxious comments. That a gentleman of his stature is saying this is unfortunate,” he told reporters in Lahore. “He says there was no policemen there [but] I think there could be no bigger lie than this because six policemen died and ten are injured.

“Our people have also been injured. We lost six policemen who were trying to protect the cricketers and the match officials. So if some one is complaining about just a scratch, then it is very sad.”

The PCB, he said, would lodge a formal protest with the ICC against Broad, who was the ICC’s match referee for the Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the city.

(more…)

Australia ready to host World Cup matches

	Australia are one of the standby hosts of the 2011 World Cup © Getty Images

Australia has offered to host 2011 World Cup matches if Pakistan loses its games due to security fears, James Sutherland, Cricket Australia’s chief executive, has said. However, Sutherland said he would prefer the tournament to be hosted by India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Australia and New Zealand are the stand-by hosts of the tournament. Tuesday’s terror strikes in Lahore - which injured five Sri Lankan cricketers - reopened the issue of players being afraid to tour the subcontinent over security fears.

“Officially, we are the standby hosts for the 2011 World Cup,” Sutherland told AAP. “Our strong preference is for the event to go ahead in Asia, hosted by the countries that the ICC sees fit.

“We’re the hosts for 2015 (World Cup) and we’re confident we can put on a fantastic event, but we want the appropriate lead time into that event because of all the planning considerations necessary for it.”

The ICC however played down sugestion that the matches will be moved away from Pakistan. President David Morgan said the matter would not be discussed before the next ICC executive meeting in Abu Dhabi in April, but “teams should not be expected to go there in the immediate future”

IPL likely to move to March in 2010

Polls force tweaks to 2009 IPL schedule The IPL tournament committee has said it will reschedule matches that coincide with the general elections in India which start next month. Kolkata Knight Riders’ home match against Bangalore Royal Challengers on May 13 falls on the same day the city goes to polls. “There’s no other way out. We have to reschedule the matches that are clashing with the Lok Sabha polls,” IPL tournament director Dhiraj Malhotra told PTI. “Not just in Kolkata, there are few more matches that are clashing with the poll dates. I’m now in the process of sorting them out. We will make an announcement in a day or two.”

The BCCI is working with various national boards to create an unofficial window for the IPL in March 2010 that would enable almost all Test-playing countries to release their top players for the Twenty20 tournament. The tweak in the IPL calendar — instead of the current April-May schedule - will also ensure that the tournament doesn’t clash with the World Twenty20 in the West Indies from April 23-May 9.

Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, told Cricinfo that all the national boards are working together for a clear window next March. “The dates are still not firm, but we are working on this,” he said. Modi said that next year’s IPL is likely to be held almost immediately after India’s tour of South Africa in February, 2010.

Apart from India’s tour, almost all the other Test-playing countries are scheduled to be engaged in various series during February-March according to the ICC’s FTP - Pakistan v England, Australia v New Zealand and West Indies v Zimbabwe. But many of these engagements are now expected to wind up by early March to give the IPL an open run.

The upcoming IPL season, which kicks off from April 10, has been hit by a scheduling clash that leaves most Australian players available only for the last two weeks of the tournament. England stars like Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff, who are expected to make their IPL debut next month, are also free only for the first three weeks. Among the national boards that are keen to see the IPL take the March slot is the ECB, which can then let its players take part in the tournament for a longer period as the English county season usually starts in mid-April.

“I believe we are close to a settlement,” Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman, told the Guardian. “We are pleased with where things are going and would like to see the IPL have a clear season [free of a clash with international fixtures].” The ECB have already committed to letting their Test players take part in the next IPL for three weeks.