Karachiites have once again been denied the right to witness a Test match in their city, mainly because of inept PCB policies
IT has become a routine thing for the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to mess up an international home series. As it happened during the discussions with South Africa in 2003 and India in early 2004, the PCB has reportedly played into the hands of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) by sidelining Karachi as a venue for one of the Tests that England is going to play against Pakistan in the winter season, while totally isolating Peshawar.
With the itinerary yet to be chalked out, PCB officials are pointing fingers at their ECB counterparts for refusing to play a Test at Karachi. But the fact that has hurt Karachiites and the image of the country’s biggest city is that the PCB did not plead Karachi’s case when the discussions on the proposed Test venues with ECB director of operations, John Carr, took place.
In the post-9/11 scenario, Karachi and Peshawar are considered as forbidden cities for all visiting teams barring Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
India, for political reasons, agreed to play One-Day Internationals during their much-publicized tour in 2004 while drastically cutting short their stay at both centres. It was clear then that a precedent had been set with Karachi and Peshawar to suffer because of the preposterous presumption that they are unsafe. In its desire to get the series going, the PCB even agreed to host the Indians in Rawalpindi for an ODI in addition to a Test despite the reports that the pitch was substandard and unsuitable for play.
Australia and the West Indies had turned their backs on playing in Pakistan expressing security concerns against the backdrop of the Sept 11 catastrophe and the subsequent US-led war in Afghanistan. Those were uneasy days as far as staging international matches in Pakistan was concerned. Both teams were hosted by Pakistan at neutral territories (Sri Lanka and Sharjah) to make sure the ICC Test Championship was not disrupted by unwanted tour cancellations.
Sadly, these days Pakistan has become the one place where cricket tours of high-profile countries are only cleared after a delegation comprising security and cricket officials visit the proposed venues in advance. This is another precedent that has been allowed to set by the PCB. In some cases, the PCB also sends it inspection team to the country where Pakistan’s cricket team is to visit, like the one that went to India before the last series played between the two countries.
It appears that in recent year the PCB has weakened its stance on this issue, compared to the Indian cricket board which has taken the International Cricket Council to task on several occasions and each time pleaded its case successfully, thereby safeguarding its interests.
So, the PCB doesn’t have much to be proud of. The fear of tour cancellation appears to be the only area of concern in the PCB set-up. It has gradually become an organization which is spineless in dealing with matters of national pride. It is a body that is supposed to be representing cricket interests of the entire country, and not just of a single province.
The ECB, according to media reports, has added fuel to the fire with respect to the upcoming Pakistan tour by reportedly seeking the right to refuse to play at any venue even at a moment’s notice. The ECB has reportedly stuck a clause into the tour Memorandum of Understanding that allows the English team to petition a change of venue during the course of the tour. The reason given for such a ridiculous arrangement, if it is true, is that the ECB has informed its Pakistani counterpart that the association representing English cricketers has expressed certain reservations about their security and safety while playing in Pakistan. This clearly means that England can pull out of a game at the eleventh hour citing security fears, a step that will most obviously cause great problems and inconvenience for the organizers of the series, not to mention TV broadcasters and the public.
This is not the end of the story. Richard Bevan, who represents the players’ association, during his meeting with PCB officials was apprehensive about England players having enough recreational activities to indulge in Pakistan. Again, according to sources, he was given assurances by the PCB that there was a lot to do for English players such as playing golf even at smaller centres like Multan and Faisalabad, where Test matches will be staged.
As Pakistanis we are proud to be probably the best hosts in the world, extending exemplary hospitality to visiting teams and officials. We have the best of hotels having all kinds of luxurious facilities. And yet we do not seem to be bothered about how harshly our sportsmen are treated in foreign lands. A recent example was the pathetic accommodation for Pakistani cricketers at Jamshedpur, which forced the team manager, Saleem Altaf, who is also PCB’s director cricket operations, to categorize the hotel having below three-star facilities.
It is PCB’s failure that has undermined both Karachi and Peshawar as international cricket venues. Karachi, the hub of economic activities and the city that pays the highest tax, deserves some form of entertainment in the shape of an interesting Test match instead of a token one-dayer.
One reason for the emergence of this situation that springs to mind is that the PCB may have already sensed the looming danger of England refusing to play a Test in Karachi. The last time England played here in 2000, they broke Pakistan’s remarkable unbeaten Test record at Karachi in the dusk of December to seal their first series win over the hosts in 38 years.
As former great batsman and captain of our national cricket team, Javed Miandad, has pointed out that it is not worth hosting the series if England fail to play a Test in Karachi, because they are bent on damaging the image of the Pakistani people in every respect. Batting legend Hanif Mohammad has also voiced his support for Karachi and has made a polite request to the ECB to have England play a Test in the megapolis.
According to the PCB, England have tentatively agreed to play an ODI in Karachi and are pondering whether to stay in the city for a second fixture. This is what people call hypocrisy. The horrific bomb blasts in central London last week, which left more than 50 people dead and hundreds injured or missing, were not enough to stop England going ahead with their One-Day matches against Australia at Lord’s and The Oval. The teams instead made their appearance at Lord’s with black armbands as a mark of respect for the dead while David Gower, in a solemn manner, said on TV that the game must go on.
It is high time the PCB adopted a more radical approach while negotiating with foreign teams. To achieve this objective, PCB officials have to take the ‘serve the past colonial masters’ mentality completely out of their system. Had they done so, England would have surely played anywhere in Pakistan to avoid being penalized by the ICC and fined for $2 million in case of not honouring their commitments. Almost the same argument forced England to tour Zimbabwe for a series of ODIs last year.
We never grumble when the ECB offers venues of its choice during Pakistan’s tours of England. It’s ironic that while England’s tour of Pakistan is still being finalized, the ECB has already announced the dates and venues for Pakistan’s trip to England next year. We can complain to the ECB for once again not makng Pakistan play a Test at Trent Bridge in Nottingham, where it last played a five-dayer in 1967.
IT has become a routine thing for the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to mess up an international home series. As it happened during the discussions with South Africa in 2003 and India in early 2004, the PCB has reportedly played into the hands of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) by sidelining Karachi as a venue for one of the Tests that England is going to play against Pakistan in the winter season, while totally isolating Peshawar.
