The ICC has realized that that their job must now shift gears from trying to convince players to finding a feasibly alternative to keep their stakeholders happy. After making fruitless meeting with three cricket boards, the ICC are not willing to wait until the fourth rejects the offer. Sunday will see a likely decision made.
The rumblings have been far reaching and felt tremendously. There is discontent amongst members in the Pakistan Cricket Board and amongst players around the world. The ICC has tried to convince the Australian, England and New Zealand into persuading their players to go ahead with the Champions Trophy in Pakistan. The Trans Tasmanian neighbours have all but made their decision clear and England looks content to tow their line.
ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat will make one last attempt to appeal to an otherwise willing South African board to make their players see their right of way. But the scars continue to haunt the players who are postponing the decision to after the England tour in a bid to stall for time before further developments from the ICC may not have to make them make the inevitable decision.
What is brewing is next to impossible. On the one hand, the ICC has failed to convince boards and their players to go with the report presented by their own consultant on the security situation, Nicholls Steyn and Associates, who claimed no perceivable threat to the tournament and expressing their satisfaction of the manner in which the Asia Cup was conducted. Australia chose to place their trust in independent security consultant, Reg Dickason, who has explicitly advised against traveling to Pakistan deeming it is a sport that is largely involving countries perceived as foreigners and therefore, threats.
Pakistan is obviously unhappy that not only have the teams refused to heed the advice of the ICC’s consultants but have chosen, in their opinion, to view threats on the basis of news reports of previous incidents of bombing, and sporadic breakouts of violence. That it has not touched the game itself is, in their opinion, proof enough that their perceived security concerns are baseless. The Pakistan board feels it has done everything including throws the doors of its country open for security personnel who have spoken to people from all fields in coordinating the event including the military personnel. The assurances, they feel, should have been enough to persuade member nations to go with the ICC’s decision to hold the Champions Trophy in Pakistan.
On the other hand, the ICC’s recommendation on alternative venue is also likely to see a fair amount of resistance. Sri Lanka remains on Australia’s list of countries against whom security related notices have been issued for their citizens. One has only to go back to the World Cup in 1996 when Australia chose to forfeit its points rather than go to Sri Lanka. The stance is hardly likely to change, from initial discussions.
The ICC is getting into battle mode for preserve the Champions Trophy. There may one titling decision, a view expressed at ICC President David Morgan that perhaps scrapping this edition of the tournament would be more befitting if Pakistan was not the choice of venue given the time constraint. A task force meeting on Friday and tele conference on Sunday will now decide Pakistan’s fate as venue and perhaps even the fate of the Champions Trophy.