Federal Minister for information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry has said that announcement of the ECB to visit Pakistan next year is a welcome step.
The minister said on Twitter, “I would like to thank stars of cricket world, diplomatic community, Media And Cricket lovers around the world on their support for pakistan Cricket, yet again Pak has emerged as strong and resilient nation.”
Yesterday, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi met British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Elizabeth Truss wherein he conveyed Pakistan’s disappointment at the decision of the English Cricket Board to cancel the Pakistan tour.
“This had not only caused financial loss to Pakistan Cricket Board but also deeply disappointed millions of cricket fans,” the foreign minister said who is currently in the UK.
The foreign minister felicitated Secretary Truss on her appointment and said that he looked forward to working closely with her to put concrete shape to the mutual desire of the two sides to take the bilateral
relations to the next level.
On September 19, the ECB issued a statement where they cited the ‘players mental and physical state’ as the primary reason for not touring the country for two T20I matches in October.
In a column for The Time, Atherton slammed England cricket’s hierarchy, in particular chairman Ian Watmore.
“The board [ECB] assumes it can put out a feeble, mealy-mouthed statement and hide behind it for good, saying nothing more,” he wrote. “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.“Pulling out of a commitment to tour, especially to Pakistan given their recent history of playing cricket in exile, is a serious business and demands a serious response. The ECB wants the story to disappear but the only thing that has disappeared has been its chairman. Watmore has been silent for five days since the cancellation was announced — one day longer than the proposed tour to Pakistan was due to last. Why exactly was the tour called off? Cricket supporters in Pakistan and England deserve to know.”