Pakistan hopes tour can still be salvaged

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has accepted the United Cricket Board of South Africa's offer to postpone the series for a week, but have categorically rejected the option of playing the series at an off-shore venue or in South Africa. In a development on Saturday night, the PCB said that they had sent a revised itinerary to the UCB, suggesting that all the matches be played in Punjab. That would see the match scheduled for Karachi being cancelled, and the possibility of the Peshawar game being shifted to Rawalpindi.

The PCB, in a statement, said: "We have written to UCBSA in which we have requested them to postpone the series for a week, review the security situation and reverse the decision. We are also flexible to reschedule the matches. We are doing all this to make South African cricketers realise how important this series is for cricket and people of Pakistan. The PCB is confident that wisdom would prevail in the end and South African cricket team will visit Pakistan.

"The PCB is making desperate efforts and utilising all its contacts to try to make UCBSA change its stand. But as the situation stands at present, we are deeply and utterly disappointed. It (the bomb blast) was an isolated incident and not targeted at anyone, evident from the fact that there were no casualties.

"We have contacted the International Cricket Council (ICC) which is right behind us. We have also contacted the South African High Commissioner in Islamabad who believes that the UCBSA decision is a 'hasty one'. We will also try to contact South African Sports Minister and will urge him to use his good offices and convince UCBSA to send its team."

While the PCB formal statement looks polite and convincing, there is growing resentment behind the scenes, with the chairman being pressed to review its relations with the ICC and UCBSA. "So far, the PCB chairman has sustained all pressure in the hope that UCBSA will reverse its decision. But he might have to change his stance if UCBSA stays stubborn," said a source.

The PCB officials are also annoyed because of what happened in 1998, when the Pakistan team was touring South Africa under Rashid Latif's captaincy. Back then, the PCB had supported the UCBSA, and not its players, when the cricketers had threatened to call off the tour after Saqlain Mushtaq and Mohammad Akram were mugged in Johannesburg. The Pakistan cricketers were ordered to stay and complete the tour, resulting in the first Test being delayed for a day.

"The PCB then supported UCBSA and annoyed its players chiefly because it enjoys excellent relations with them. The PCB now believes it is time for the UCBSA to re-pay as they owe something to Pakistan and the PCB. The PCB chairman is being pressurised by his think-tank to severe ties with UCBSA and ICC if the tour doesn't take place," said a PCB official, requesting anonymity.

The PCB chairman held an emergency meeting at the Gaddafi Stadium where he assessed the situation. "The chairman has been told by his men that South African cricketers were waiting for an opportunity to cancel the tour as the reports emerging during their tour to England suggested that the South African cricketers were not interested in touring Pakistan.

"The PCB chief has also been told that the UCBSA had initially requested for the change of Karachi and Peshawar as venues without saying the tour was in jeopardy. But when the UCBSA took the extreme decision [on Saturday morning], it never consulted the PCB. So much so, the UCBSA didn't request the PCB to reschedule the matches from Karachi and Peshawar. The sequence of events leads us to believe that the South African cricketers were never interested in touring Pakistan."

A PCB official said that the security in South Africa was no better than Pakistan. "When our team went there to play the World Cup, the squad was told not to leave their hotels in the evening because of security. The participating teams obeyed their orders and the tournaments went smoothly without any incident.

"The UCBSA chief executive can travel to Mumbai, where there were plenty of casualties in a bomb blast a fortnight ago, to attend the ICC conference. But he is backing the decision of its players. It's an excellent case of double standards and different rules for different set of players."

Tension and anger is mounting, not only within the PCB but also amongst the public who had planned to follow the Pakistan team wherever it was due to play South Africa. The UCBSA's decision has suddenly changed the mindset of the followers in this cricket-mad country, with Graeme Smith's men now being considered cowardly and unsporting.

As the match organisers prepared for the fifth and last one-day international against Bangladesh on Sunday, they feared that there would be protests against UCBSA and its players. "The simple fact is that if the situation was life-threatening, how come the Bangladesh cricketers are playing the last match on Sunday? And how come Mike Procter [from South Africa] is performing his duties? Their lives are as dear as those of the South African cricketers," said an angry cricket fan.