October 2, 2003	Thursday	Sha’aban 5, 1424

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

LAHORE, Oct 1: United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCB) president Ray Mali has said that International Cricket Council (ICC) could play a major role in removing security concerns of its member countries, once and for all to  avoid  incidents  of cancellation of tours in future.

“As the atmosphere in the world was changing as far as security is concerned, there was a role forICC to take concrete steps to avoid cancellation of tours”, Mali said while talking to reporters at the Gaddafi Stadium on Wednesday.

Mali, said that this point would also be discussed by ICC in the next meeting, to be held in the West Indies by the  end  of current month.

Responding to various queries, Mali pointed out that ICC was likely to discuss England’s tour to Zimbabwe which was not cleared as yet.

He expressed his consent to an idea that the ICC should form a security commission like Anti Corruption Unit (ACU) which would form a set pattern of security.

Regarding the current tour, Mali admitted that some South African players were reluctant to tour Pakistan on grounds of security, but they got ready after their security concerns were addressed by Pakistan.

Asked to comment on dropping Karachi and Peshawar from  the tour, Mali clarified “we have received information from our intelligence that playing conditions are not conducive for cricket in these cities, so the decision was taken for the safety of the players”.

When his attention was drawn towards Bangladesh which did play at the two centres, Mali said: “We were initially ready  to play there, but a bomb blast in Karachi prompted us to cancel  the tour”.

When reminded that New Zealand also sent its team to India despite a heavy bomb blast in Mumbai recently, Mali said the UCB took the decision according to its own concerns.

He dispelled the impression that playing cricket under tight security could affect the performance of his team in the series and added that security was for their safety and it was good.

Mali expressed his satisfaction over the security arrangements made for his team and added those were beyond his expectations.