- Saturday, April 27, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
AS the controversy continued to snowball over the New Zealand national cricket team abruptly calling off its limited-series tour of Pakistan over security concerns, Black Caps pacer Mitchell McClenaghan told senior Pakistan batsman Mohammed Hafeez that if someone is to be blamed for the tour not going forward, it is the government of New Zealand and not the visiting players.
“Come now bro. This has a bad taste to it… Don’t blame the players or the organisation… blame our government. They have only acted on the advice they have received. I’m absolutely certain these young men – all wanting to prove themselves wanted to play. they had no choice,” the left-arm seamer tweeted.
ALSO READ: Minutes before first match, NZ scrap Pakistan tour
His reaction came after Hafeez took a dig at the New Zealand Cricket (NZC) for deferring the tour citing security. “Thanks to the secutity of pakistan forces to make arrangements to @BLACKCAPS to reach at airport Safe & Sound. Wonder same route & same security but no threat today???” the batsman asked in a sarcastic tweet.
Thanks to the secutity of pakistan forces to make arrangements to @BLACKCAPS to reach at airport Safe & Sound. Wonder same route & same security but no threat today??? pic.twitter.com/mwxq6AFjyT
— Mohammad Hafeez (@MHafeez22) September 18, 2021
The Kiwis abandoned the tour minutes before the first one-day international was set to start in Peshawar after their government raised an alert, NZC said on Friday (17). NZC is the country’s cricket-governing body. It was the first time that Tom Latham’s side was set to play its first match on Pakistan soil since 2003. The three ODIs were scheduled in Rawalpindi followed by five T20 internationals in Lahore.
Even intervention by Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan, a former cricketer himself, did not help. He spoke with his New Zealand counterpart Jacinda Ardern telling her that Pakistan has one of the world’s best intelligence systems and there was no security of any kind to the New Zealand team. But yet the NZC decided to call back the players from a country where international cricket remained suspended for several years following a deadly terror attack on the Sri Lankan national side in 2009. The New Zealand team left Islamabad on a charter flight to reach Dubai where they are currently undergoing self-isolation.
New Zealand Cricket Players Association chief executive Heath Mills echoed NZC chief executive David White’s sentiments. He said, “We’ve been across this process throughout and are fully supportive of the decision. The players are in good hands; they’re safe — and everyone’s acting in their best interests.”
He said there was no doubt that the Black Caps faced a serious and credible threat during the tour of Pakistan.
“We have a comprehensive security-check process that we complete prior to going on any tour. We’ll always take that seriously and treat it as a serious issue until we can demonstrate otherwise,” stuff.co.nz quoted Mills as saying from Dubai.
“Once we went through that checking process and spoke to independent people, there was no doubt that it was a serious and credible attack on the tour. Once you hear that you understand there’s no option but for the team to come home,” he added.
When asked about getting the team out of Pakistan, he said, “I think because they’ve been involved in the security-check processes, they had been on the ground and felt safe in Pakistan, saw the resources around them and have confidence in our security experts, they knew they were going to be okay while they remained in Pakistan at the hotel. So we just had to work on getting out.”
“There’s been anxiousness, they were keen to leave but they were very calm throughout the whole process,” he added.
White on Sunday (19) said he is grateful to the Pakistan Cricket Board for helping organise the safe departure of the New Zealand team.
“We appreciate this has been a terribly difficult time for the PCB and wish to pass on our sincere thanks to chief executive Wasim Khan and his team for their professionalism and care,” he said in an official statement.
White also said NZC and the Black Caps had been very much looking forward to the Pakistan series but were faced with no option but to abandon the tour after receiving, on Friday, advice from the New Zealand government of a specific, credible threat.
