An Englishman in Pakistan (part 2)

Complaints over the dew and the midges in the first two one-day internationals seem a little pathetic when compared to tear gas. It must be one of cricket's more unusual reasons for suspending play. Nasser Hussain was right when he said, "you don't get those sort of things at Chelmsford too much." One-day international cricket in Pakistan is as far removed from a Sunday League game at Chelmsford as is possible.

The roads around Rawalpindi were quite chaotic. Even at 11 o'clock in the morning the police were firing tear gas and using mounted riot police to disperse would-be spectators who were throwing stones. This confrontation became a little more heated when play started, resulting in the delays to the match. I'm not sure why the players reacted with such dramatics. They seemed to dive on the ground clutching their faces. All the spectators in the stadium just covered their eyes and breathed through their shirts.

I've watched all three matches and there have been instances of trouble in each. The problem lies in the allocation of tickets and the stewarding of the waiting spectators outside the ground. There have been cases of confusion over ticket sales where some seats have been allocated twice. In Karachi something like 30% of genuine ticket holders were not allowed entry. In Lahore, a whole stand of valid ticket holders were turned away. In Rawalpindi, one man came some sixteen hours by bus from the mountainous areas of Pakistan, but was turned away by Police.

The match was also temporarily stopped by a few plastic bottles, thrown on to the pitch next to the boundary fielders. These weren't purely directed at the England players - it happened in the second innings at Karachi when Pakistan were fielding. A few spectators became over-excited in the second innings and it is purely a way of showing off to their mates. There is no feeling of animosity whatsoever towards the England players or any England fans. I have been sitting in the cheapest stands and the Pakistani people are constantly coming up for a chat and an offer of food or a place to stay and saying how much they like the English players. Nasser Hussain is a great favourite on account of being 'a good Muslim' and Darren Gough seems to get all the attention for his 'beautiful looks'.

It's been a very good week for Pakistani cricket. Pakistan has won the one-day international series after being one-nil down. And in Sharjah, Pakistan humiliated their arch rivals India by a massive 245 runs. It is difficult to say which gave people here more satisfaction.