By Fakir Hassen, IANS,
Johannesburg : It may be time for the International Cricket Council (ICC) to review the future of the Champions Trophy in view of the problems encountered with it, the chief executive of the South African Cricket Players’ Association, Tony Irish, said here Monday.
Reacting to the ICC decision to postpone the Champions Trophy, scheduled to start in Pakistan next week, Irish told the Afrikaans daily Beeld: “It’s a tournament that has experienced problems over the years. Everyone is still striving towards the World Cup tournament and the (recently introduced) Twenty20 World Championships is also important on the cricket calendar.”
Irish ‘s comments came in the wake of South Africa becoming the first country to officially declare that it would not participate in the Pakistan tournament, precipitating the ICC decision to host the tournament in the same country next year, depending on the security situation then. The tournament will not be moved to Sri Lanka after that country had indicated that it could be ready to host it within a month.
Most western cricket playing nations have seen players and officials expressing concern about going to Pakistan because of the deteriorating security situation there, but no controlling body had expressed any intention to withdraw.
Welcoming the postponement, Irish said “sound judgement” had prevailed, despite protestations from Pakistani authorities: “There is no way that you can send players to Pakistan amidst reports from security experts indicating that it would be unsafe to do so.”
“That’s why I believe that South Africa took the right decision. It is also the right decision to postpone the tournament indefinitely.”
South African players had been shaken during their tour of Pakistan last year when a bomb went off near their hotel.