Former England cricketer Paul Newman was sharp in his criticism of England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to cancel the men’s and women’s tours of Pakistan due to “growing concerns about field travel”.
The ECB announced on 20 September that the tour of Pakistan in October by their men’s and women’s teams was canceled taking into account the “mental and physical well-being of our players and support staff”.
The visit, which would have been Pakistan’s first men’s team and the first by a women’s team since 2005, was in serious doubt as the New Zealand men’s team had already pulled out of their white-ball series, citing security concerns.
“It is easy for England to refuse to play two Twenty20 Internationals over their refusal to spend just four days in Pakistan next month, which was a goodwill visit. After all, England should have thanked Pakistan for playing such a big role in saving the home game last year, when they traveled to the UK for a three-Test series at the height of the pandemic before being vaccinated,” Newman said in his statement. was written in the column. on Tuesday for the Daily Mail.
“Instead, the overwhelming impression given by this week’s return is that England wants other countries to help them in their hour of need, but will do little in return. Unless, of course, there’s big money involved.”
Newman said that England’s cancellation of the tour in Pakistan citing the mental and physical well-being of the players more than security issues smacks of “hypocrisy”.
“No one would have argued that England posed a ‘credible’ threat to their team, citing security concerns for the move in the wake of New Zealand’s return on the morning of their scheduled first one-day international in Rawalpindi last week. But It was a statement (by the ECB) that blamed the concern that players may have been involved after the visit to Pakistan, as they had spent in a post-COVID environment in Pakistan, more than any security issues, that of credibility and hypocrisy. Smell was there. Newman added.
He said that Pakistan had a much more relaxed COVID-19 protocol for international visitors and added that as far as he understands the visiting side has no problem with the bio-bubble and COVID protocols in the country .
“Remember, all the players were asked to do is spend two days less in Pakistan than the six-day quarantine period required for those traveling to UAE for the IPL to resume. The funny thing is that no one involved had a problem with it.
“What a coincidence, that the England players in the IPL, including captain Eoin Morgan, will now be able to stay in the UAE for the entire duration of the tournament, now that the ECB has canceled the tour of Bangladesh and Pakistan which clashed with it. “
He said the ECB should be grateful to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for having saved its millions of pounds last summer by taking a long tour and enduring some strict quarantine measures.
“If we are talking about hardship here, those Pakistani players who saved millions of pounds of broadcast revenue for the ECB by coming here last summer can point out at the end of the week that they have to travel in the Derby. Had to spend in quarantine in hardly luxurious surroundings of K. “
get all IPL news and cricket score Here
.