I love cricket probably as much as anyone and would play or watch anywhere, any time, given the opportunity. The thought of the SuperSport Series starting this weekend and the prospect of a visit to the Wanderers for some old-fashioned, first-class cricket is genuinely exciting to me.
But even I would draw the line when playing or watching cricket could land up killing you.
For all those who have been attacking Cricket SA, the national team and the South African Cricketers’ Association (Saca) for refusing to go to Pakistan and the Champions Trophy for what critics consider to be ”semi-serious security concerns” — take a look at what has happened in Pakistan recently.
Last week a suicide bomber detonated a truck bomb outside the luxury Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, engulfing the front of the hotel in a fireball and killing 60 people. The bomber had been stopped outside the heavily fortified gate of the hotel, but was still able to inflict such damage.
While my sympathies and prayers go out to the victims and their families, it is worth noting that South African cricket could have paid an awful price had the Champions Trophy gone ahead.
South Africa were originally scheduled to play England in Rawalpindi on the day of the bombing. Rawalpindi and Islamabad are cities a short drive apart, much like Pretoria and Johannesburg, and touring cricket teams have generally stayed in more memorable Islamabad and usually at the Marriott.
The bombing happened at 7pm local time and it is not hard to imagine several of the South African team sitting out on the hotel’s verandah on a balmy evening, chatting on their cellphones and hopefully glowing in a revenge victory over the English ODI outfit.
Tony Irish is the chief executive of Saca, and he says the dreadful incident in Islamabad underlines just how serious the situation is in that troubled country and how careful cricket teams have to be when considering tours to hot spots.
”It vindicates the position of the players’ association and Cricket South Africa. I’m very happy that we took the conservative route, which is what we have to do when it comes to the safety of the players,” Irish told the Mail & Guardian.
Cricket SA also deserves praise for its handling of the situation. In being the first ICC member country to announce it would not be sending its team to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy, it opened the way for Australia, England and New Zealand to follow in its footsteps. If one of those trio of ”white”, Western-aligned countries had been the first to break ranks, it would have resulted in yet another black-white split in the ICC and allegations of racism.
Not that Cricket SA has gained much goodwill from its sensible stand. But chief executive Gerald Majola will be a relieved man given what happened in Islamabad and he will point out that the South African government itself advised that the team should not travel to Pakistan.
It has become so bad in Pakistan the United States is pulling all of its citizens out of the country and airports have been locked down for entire days recently, with all flights grounded.
But the ICC’s new chief executive, South African Haroon Lorgat, was so desperate to see the Champions Trophy go ahead that he blindly pushed ahead with plans for the tournament even as it became more obvious that half the competitors would not be there.
His promises of presidential-level security quite rightly did not impress the players. It does not matter how much security you pack around the players, as the Marriott blast confirmed: even if they are hemmed into their hotels, a suicide bomber can still get to them.
As it was President Asif Zardari was next door to the hotel in the prime minister’s house and he narrowly avoided the blast. The Czech ambassador to Pakistan was less fortunate and he was one of the victims.
As one South African cricketer, who has been to Pakistan points out, the ”presidential security” he had on tour was more of a pain than a comfort, because he kept being asked if he would sign autographs for them.
There are also concerns that many in the Pakistan military and police are in fact in the laps of the terrorists and an attack on high-profile cricketers, especially from countries that have strong relations with the US, such as England, Australia and New Zealand, would pay off in terms of mileage for these insurgent groups.
Critics of South African cricket’s stance can carry on with their semantics about security, but there is no such thing as a semi-serious bomb blast at a team hotel. Players or not, it is all the same to the people who perpetrate these dastardly deeds and when the stakes are literally life and death, sport is no longer worth it.