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| March 15, 2006 | Wednesday | Safar 14, 1427 |
Pakistan team boycotts practice over venue dispute
COLOMBO, March 14: Pakistan’s cricket team touring Sri Lanka walked out of practice on Tuesday morning after they were asked to share the venue with a group playing softball cricket.
“It’s a disgrace,” Pakistan’s coach Bob Woolmer said.
“When you are on an international touring side wanting a centre wicket (for practices) and can’t get one, it looks a little strange.”
Pakistan’s team were scheduled to practice at Colombo Cricket Ground on Tuesday morning but were informed that the ground had already been allocated for a local cricket match.
“We went there for little practices and we were told that a soft ball match was being played, which no one seemed to know,” Woolmer said.
Most Sri Lankans play cricket using the tennis ball instead of a hard cricket ball, mainly for leisure.
An official in-charge of arranging practices said that it became difficult to book centre pitches because all the cricket grounds had been booked months ahead because a public holiday fell on Tuesday.
After failing to persuade the Sri Lankan authorities to stop the game, the Pakistan players returned to the team hotel.
“We went to the ground as scheduled in the morning but found out some others were using it and we had no other alternative but to return to the hotel,” Pakistan team manager Zaheer Abbas said.
“After we contacted SLC we were given a different venue to practice in the afternoon,” Zaheer said.
While the Pakistan cricketers hung around for about 40 minutes, some of the players, including bowling coach Waqar Younis, sent down a few deliveries for the locals.
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) officials said the inconvenience was caused by miscommunication.
“We had earlier allocated the side nets for the Pakistan team, but subsequently they requested for the centre wickets and we couldn’t arrange that at the last moment,” a spokesman said.
Pakistan arrived in Colombo on Sunday and will play two Test matches. The first one-dayer, a day-night fixture, begins on Friday at Colombo’s R. Premadasa Stadium.—Agencies
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