Cricket put into perspective by hospital visit

On any ordinary tour, Ashley Giles and Michael Vaughan might have expected to be fielding questions about Mushtaq Ahmed's recall to the Pakistan national squad, or giving thought to Monday's team for the first warm-up match. Instead they were composing themselves after a harrowing afternoon in the Pakistan Institute of Medical Science, Islamabad, having experienced for themselves the true scale of the tragedy that is the Kashmir earthquake.

Vaughan and Giles, young fathers both, were joined by Matthew Hoggard and Marcus Trescothick on a special VIP visit to the children's ward of the hospital, where 450 victims of the disaster - almost double the usual capacity - were being cared for. The players arrived amid a scrum of media, security and gawping bystanders, but left in a fog of their own thoughts, having seen the sort of sights that could leave no parent unmoved.

"We simply didn't realize the extent of the damage," said Vaughan afterwards. "We can only hope we never see this at home." In one ward lay Ahmed, a slither of a 26-day old baby, both legs snapped at the femurs and held in traction by two ropes from the ceiling. He had arrived at the hospital just five days into his life, and for three weeks solid he had been cradled and soothed by his young sister. His mother, alas, was already counting among the 53,000 victims.

In another ward, Giles stopped to sit with a two-and-a-half-year-old girl, Ashia, who was recovering from a soft tissue injury to her back. His own daughter is of a similar age, and her plight couldn't help but touch a chord, especially seeing as, once again, the mother was not expected to survive.

"These are just kids," he emphasized afterwards. "It pulls on the heartstrings, especially when you think that these are the lucky ones. There are thousands and thousands still out there in the mountains who will die of exposure when winter kicks in. We're cricketers, not politicians, but if we can help raise awareness, there's certainly a lot more that can be done."

According to the assistant director of the hospital, Dr Waseem Khawaja, up to 1400 children were being shuffled between several makeshift venues across the city, many of them having arrived by helicopter direct from the epicentre of the quake, which even now, it was hard to believe could be just 60 miles away. But, as the mountains of supplies piled out at the back of the hospital confirmed, that final, treacherous distance was proving to be the hardest of all.

Giles confessed to having heard details that made his mind boggle. "You can't help but think: `Earthquakes can't do that surely?' But these are people who know what they are talking about. Apparently whole villages have been lifted from the ground, fallen back into the ground and disappeared from the face of the earth. If that happened in the UK, you'd hear a lot about it.

"We all had huge lumps in our throats, you wouldn't be human if you didn't," Giles added. "You do feel helpless. Most of them didn't know we were cricketers, but that isn't the important thing. If we can raise awareness, then we are doing a job. Cricket is secondary. If we can help in some way by getting this situation out to the public, then even if we raise $1000 more, then at least we've done something."

So far, the team are doing their bit, with a charity golf day in the pipeline, as well as a donation to a UNICEF Christmas appeal. But the disaster promises to be the omnipresent reality check of this tour. No matter what transpires in the coming months, the sentiment that "it is only a game" will never have rung so true.