Atherton slams ECB over silence on Pakistan tour cancellation
Atherton called ECB's statement feeble and said it wanted to hide behind it
(Web Desk) – Former England captain Michael Atherton slammed the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for their ‘deafening silence’ on the reasons behind pulling out of the Pakistan tour.
England became the second team after New Zealand to withdraw from their respective tours to Pakistan. However, the reasons for both the pull outs were not exactly the same.
“ECB wants the story to disappear. The only thing that has is the chairman, Ian Watmore, silent now for 5 days, one day longer than the tour was due to last,” Atherton tweeted along with the ink to his column in The Times.
Atherton called ECB s statement ‘feeble’ and said it wanted to ‘hide behind it’ while not addressing the actual concerns.
The former England captain said that the ECB should have remembered the commitment of the Pakistan players when they stayed in bio-bubbles for two months last year to complete the entire tour in England, when even crowds were not allowed to enter the stadiums.
“Pakistan’s cricketers, who spent two months in a biosecure bubble here last summer to help save the game from financial catastrophe, their administrators, who have done so much to get cricket back to that country, and supporters deserve better. The game in this country deserves better,” he said.
The former opener added that PCB chief Ramiz Raja had indicated that the decision making was not entirely dependent on ECB. “The chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Ramiz Raja, revealed this week that his opposite number, Ian Watmore, implied the decision was out of his, Watmore’s, hands. “He appeared as if there were other influencers who really made the call in the end on his behalf,” Ramiz said with some bafflement,” Atherton wrote.
