Miandad leads the protests

The Pakistan team made their feelings clear over South Africa's last-minute tour cancellation by wearing black armbands in their fifth and final one-day international against Bangladesh at Karachi.

Javed Miandad, Pakistan's coach, said: "Today's match is our answer to South Africa ... that by pulling out of the Pakistan tour they have promoted terrorism." Miandad added that the players were disgusted, echoing the wave of bitter disappointment across the country. "If they did not want to come they should have said so straight away. Why make lame excuses?" said Miandad, who has insisted that the security fears are unfounded and that Pakistan has been wrongly targeted as a no-go zone.

The South African board offered to play the series in a neutral venue or in South Africa, but the PCB declined and is desperately trying to reschedule the tour and change venues. Intikhab Alam, a former captain, also had his say: "It's a very unfortunate decision because the law-and-order situation even in South Africa is not good."

South Africa called off their tour only 24 hours before they were due to depart, saying that the security in Pakistan had descended to an unacceptable level. The decision was triggered by a bomb blast in an empty Karachi office block on Friday night in which no-one was injured.