LONDON, Nov 29: World cricket is in danger of a damaging split if countries like England and Australia refuse to tour Asia after this week’s bloodshed in India, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ijaz Butt warned on Saturday.
England cut short their one-day series in India after nearly 200 people died in the Mumbai attacks. Captain Kevin Pietersen said there was still doubt whether they would return to play two Tests before Christmas.
Pakistan have also suffered from teams refusing to tour because of security concerns, most recently when the ICC Champions Trophy was postponed in September.
“It’s a mutual thing. If they don’t come we won’t go ... you can’t have separate pockets with people playing over here and England playing only Australia, that’s not the essence of the game,” Ijaz told BBC radio.
“You can’t have two separate groups ... because to continue to not participate in cricket in this part of the world in India and Sri Lanka, then it will be very difficult.”
Ijaz added cricket could ease its troubles but said there needed to be co-operation between all the Test-playing nations.
“I think we will come out of it ... we talked about it at the last International Cricket Council (ICC) meeting but these problems are there and they need to be tackled,” he added. “It will be very difficult if there are two sets of rules for two sets of countries and there become two blocks [of countries] in the ICC. That would be a very dangerous thing.”
Lalit Modi, vice-president of the BCCI, has insisted the two-match series will go ahead, with the second Test, scheduled to start in Mumbai on Dec 19, switched to Chennai.
However, MacLaurin, former ECB chief warned the England team could be targeted if they return to India.
“The England team are very high-profile individuals,” he stated. “If these fanatics are going to target people then the England cricket side could be a very big target for them. My own view is that I would be very, very surprised if the security people will give them the OK to go back. For myself, I don’t think they should go back.”
England captain Kevin Pietersen says no player will be asked to return to India against his wishes, a stance backed by Vikram Solanki, an England batsman who was born in India and has played for the Mumbai Champs of the Indian Cricket League.
“Two One-day Internationals may have been cancelled but if you look at the bigger picture there has been a devastating attack on the commercial capital of India, and a lot of people have lost their lives,” Solanki said. “That puts things into perspective as far as one-day cricket matches are concerned.”
Yet Solanki warned any withdrawal would have implications for all future tours. “There have been terror attacks on England in the past and cricket matches played soon afterward, which begs the question of whether that sets a precedent,” he said.—Agencies