Geoff Boycott has warned English cricket chiefs it would be “monstrous” to send the national team back to India in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
England’s squad returned home in the aftermath of the attacks but are expected to return next week and play two Test matches, although there are doubts about how many of the leading players will be prepared to travel.
In his column in yesterday’s Daily Telegraph, Boycott said it would be “disrespectful, insensitive and immoral” to send a team back to India, regardless of what security assurances the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have received from their hosts.
The former batsman, now a leading commentator who is well known in India, added: “Given what has just happened in India, it is monstrous for the ECB even to be thinking about sending the team back out again.
“It’s all very well to say ‘We mustn’t let the terrorists win,’ but what about the grieving families who have lost loved ones.
“Sport is supposed to be enjoyable, entertaining and essentially fun. But I don’t know how any of that can be possible when India is burying more than 200 victims of terror.
“In fact, the ECB are showing a lack of moral judgment by pressing ahead with all these meetings and security inspections. The whole thing is just too raw,” he wrote.
Boycott’s intervention came as the ECB awaited a report from its security expert Reg Dickason, who is in India inspecting arrangements for Tests scheduled to take place in Chennai and Mohali.
All the signs were that the ECB would give a green light for England to return with their preparations for the start of the first Test in Chennai next Thursday, including a warm-up match in Abu Dhabi.
But it is far from certain that England will be able to send a full-strength side given that as many as six first-choice players are likely to refuse to join the trip, former player Dominic Cork said.
“I know of at least five or six players who are going to turn their backs on England,” Cork said. “Those I’ve spoken to are traumatized. What they saw on television [in India] was 10 times worse than what was shown here.”
“I am not sure about the captain [Kevin Pietersen]. I know of certain players who are going to put their families first. If one doesn’t go, they all shouldn’t go. They should make a stand and say ‘it’s not safe for us to be there,’” he said.
On Tuesday, Australia said it had withdrawn from this month’s World International Doubles Squash Championships in India.
Squash Australia’s chief Gary O’Donnell said he acted advice from officials in Australia and Chennai, where the tournament is to take place from Dec. 15 to Dec. 20.
“I have spoken to Australia’s consul-general and trade commissioner in Chennai,” O’Donnell said in a statement. “He indicates they are operating on ‘high alert,’ reinforced the gravity of the situation and [said] that several delegations planned over the next few weeks have been canceled.”
O’Donnell said the decision to quit the contest had not been taken lightly, but competitors’ safety overrode all other considerations.
“Lisa Camilleri was in Pakistan for a tournament earlier this year when a devastating attack killed many people quite close to the venue, but she opted to stay on and ended up winning the tournament,” he said. “However, the scale of the recent Mumbai attacks and the stark warning from the Australian government left us with no option but to withdraw.”
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
Taiwan’s top table tennis player Lin Yun-ju made his debut in the US professional table tennis scene by taking on a new role as a team’s co-owner. On Wednesday, Major League Table Tennis (MLTT), founded in September last year, announced on its official Web site that Lin had become part of the ownership group of the Princeton Revolution, one of the league’s eight teams. MLTT chief executive officer Flint Lane described Lin’s investment as “another great milestone for table tennis in America,” saying that the league’s “commitment to growth and innovation is drawing attention from the best in the sport, and we’re
Coco Gauff of the US on Friday defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals, while in the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was eliminated. Gauff generated six break points to Belarusian Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set. She is the youngest player at 20 to make the final at the WTA Finals since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to book
For King Faisal, a 20-year-old winger from Ghana, the invitation to move to Brazil to play soccer “was a dream.” “I believed when I came here, it would help me change the life of my family and many other people,” he said in Sao Paulo. For the past year and a half, he has been playing on the under-20s squad for Sao Paulo FC, one of South America’s most prominent clubs. He and a small number of other Africans are tearing across pitches in a country known as the biggest producer and exporter of soccer stars in the world, from Pele to Neymar. For
RSS