CricInfo Home
News Home

NEWS FOCUS
Rsa in Pak
NZ in India
Zim in Aus

Domestic
Other Series

The news that the Sri Lanka 'A' cricket team will tour Pakistan next month, on its own, is not significant. But against the backdrop of the refusal of Australia and New Zealand to tour Pakistan because of security concerns for its players , shows up these concerns as being somewhat flimsy.

Nairobi is deemed safe enough by the Australians but as far as New Zealand is concerned, they fear a player burn-out.

So be it New Zealand first toured Pakistan in 1956. Henry Cave was its captain and it included Bert Sutcliffe and John Reid, the same John Reid who became a match-referee and was all but declared persona non grata by Pakistan. That New Zealand team comprised mainly of gentleman-farmers and they played cricket for the love of the game.

The 1956 New Zealand team lost the series but won the hearts of the Pakistani cricket public for its show of sportsmanship. In the Lahore Test match, Pakistan was not chasing a target but were also chasing the clock. There was not the slightest attempt by New Zealand to slow things down. Indeed, they appeared to be hurrying in between overs. This gesture was not lost on the Lahore crowd nor on the two commentators, Jamshed Marker and me. Ask an old Lahori, and he will say that that New Zealand team was the most sporting to ever visit Pakistan.

There was also a bonding between the players of the two teams. Times have changed, not for the better, I fear. The New Zealand team is no longer made up of gentleman-farmers and its cricket board has become bureaucratic. When the outgoing PCB Director Brigadier Rana met Snedden, the CEO of the New Zealand Cricket Board in London, Martin Snedden claimed that all that Brigadier Rana and he had was a "conversation." New Zealand had not agreed in principle to play in Kenya. This is, of course, nit-picking. To give Snedden the benefit of the doubt, the lines may have been badly crossed. But if Snedden did not fear a burn-out of his players, he should not have agreed to the triangular in the first place for he also says: "When we agreed to a shortened re-scheduled tour after the September-October tour had been cancelled, I saw this tri-series as one way of making up some of the cricket Pakistan missed as a result of the tour's postponement.

The prospect of a pre-tournament appealed because it was in Asian conditions against good quality conditions." So New Zealand had agreed in principle to play in the tri-series! There seems to be a smack of doublespeak here.

I have been one of those who has written a lot about too much cricket being played. The cricket captains who met in London have complained about player burn-out. I did not have player burn-out in mind. I was concerned about spectator or television viewer burn-out. A player can always opt out if he feels that he needs rest and unless a cricket board is bloody-minded, the player will be rested. But there are a lot of cricket matches or tournaments being arranged by private persons and there is the allure of good money to attract players. It is this private enterprise that needs to be looked at. I am not against it because if a player can pick up some extra money, good luck to him. But what concerns me is a fear of injury to a player.

These private tournaments are often played on grounds that are not meant for cricket and one does not know the condition of the pitch. Thus, the risk of injury is that much greater. Since the Pakistan players are not under contract to the PCB, they are free agents. But I would have thought that a player like Wasim Akram would be extra careful before trotting off to Houston. I don't know anything about Houston beyond it being in Texas and a city where the family of the late Farooq Mazhar is settled. I was also of the view that Wasim Akram needed to be rested, every now and then, for he was injury-prone.

The decision to go to Houston was his own. Had he asked me, I would have advised against it. At the same time, I don't believe it is for the captains to decide whether too much cricket is being played or not. It is for the cricket boards. Other games are being played all the year round, soccer, tennis, golf. Tiger Woods doesn't play in all the tournaments. He is selective and the best judge of his burn-out.

The statement of a high-ranking Sri Lankan official, Mr Chandra Schaffter that match-fixing was still going on is dismaying. Mr Schaffter was Sri Lanka's manager on the England tour. He was sacked midway but was reinstated, only to be fired again. He says that he can't elaborate on his allegation but that the Sri Lankan team is "absolutely clean." Who then is not "absolutely clean?" he does not say.

It is precisely these vague kind of allegations that have given cricket a black eye. I think he needs to be made to be more specific. Otherwise, he will just be another loud mouth and we have had enough of them, or at best, loose cannon, and we have also had enough of them.

© Dawn