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Pakistan cricket clean bowled by Black Caps exit

Mike Atherton

By a quirk of fate, Azhar Ali, the former Pakistan captain, had played a lifetime’s worth of cricket before he experienced playing a test match on home soil. His career began in July 2010, 16 months after the terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team bus, and it was not until December 2019 – 75 matches in – that he stepped out as a test cricketer for the first time in Pakistan.

In the intervening years, Azhar was in exile, either playing away series or in the deserted stadiums of the United Arab Emirates, which became Pakistan’s de-facto home. His own form, and that of the team, who maintained their competitiveness despite every disadvantage, was remarkable. As was the way the passion for the game in the country was little diminished despite the inability to watch any international cricket in stadiums at home.

Cricket returned to Pakistan gradually from 2017. The Pakistan Super League had been conceived and setup in exile, and its final was staged at home first of all; then international teams began to return, until in 2019 the whole PSL, with its full contingent of international players, returned for the entirety of the competition.

It was a triumph of planning and determination and Pakistan got to the point where they made it clear that playing in the UAE could not continue. It was not viable, either financially or psychologically.

The great fear stalking Pakistan cricket, in the wake of the cancellation of the New Zealand tour, is of the potential of a return to exile, or at least partexile if those countries who had a hand in the war in Afghanistan feel unable to travel to Pakistan because of heightened security fears.

With its three ODIs and five T20s at stake, the tour was cancelled shortly before the opening match in Rawalpindi, after security advice from the New Zealand government made it impossible for the team to continue, despite the protestations from Pakistan.

New Zealand’s departure brought echoes of their previous tour to Pakistan 18 years before, which was cancelled after a suicide bomb went off outside the team hotel. There is the strong possibility of a severe knock-on effect this time. England’s men – for the first time in 16 years – and women are due in the country next month, and Australia and West Indies after that.

The ECB announced yesterday it would make a decision on the future of the tours in the next 24-48 hours. That sounded grim: you would hardly give the green light so swiftly, so far in advance. It is very difficult to see the England tour going ahead now.

Besides, players are not looking for much of an excuse to pull out of tours in the present climate, as India showed recently in England, and England are led by Eoin Morgan, who was quick to pull out of a trip to Bangladesh on security grounds in 2016. The ECB owes Pakistan, after their visit during the pandemic last summer, but this will carry little weight if the safety of players cannot be guaranteed.

The best hope is that England’s security advice at a government level differs from New Zealand’s. Even then, the prospect of some players pulling out must be real. Pakistan have already faced an England second/ third XI this summer, when Covid-19 necessitated wholesale changes to England’s team for the one-day series, and they could face something similar again, even if the tour is given the all clear, which is hard to see happening given that New Zealand have shared their security concerns

New Zealand’s departure brought echoes of their previous tour to Pakistan 18 years before, which was cancelled after a suicide bomb.

with England.

When the West pulled out of Afghanistan recently, with disastrous consequences, most comment in the sports’ pages landed on the potential effects for the Afghan men’s team and prospects for women’s cricket there, but as their closest neighbour, Pakistan have more to lose than anyone. If the threat of terrorist attacks in the region escalates again to the levels that were seen before the return of cricket to Pakistan, the consequences for the game are obvious.

As it happens, I saw Azhar in Taunton last week. I asked him what he thought the effects of the recent events in Afghanistan would be for Pakistan cricket, and he shrugged his shoulders in a ‘‘I don’t know but here’s hoping’’ kind of way.

For Pakistan and their longsuffering supporters, it is to be hoped that the security advice that caused New Zealand’s cancellation is a blip, rather than the start of a trend.

Sport

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2021-09-19T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-09-19T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/282716230131791

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