Cricket’s future in jeopardy due to terrorism

The bombing and machine gun attacks in Mumbai demonstrates how terrorism has affected Asian nations hosting sporting tours and places the global future of cricket in jeopardy.

Pakistan has been hit by a spate of bombings to ensure it will finish 2008 without playing a single cricket test, while Sri Lanka’s civil war involving the Tamil Tigers has been going for more than 25 years and shows no sign of abating.

Now, more than 100 people in Mumbai have died overnight in India’s worst terror attack, causing the England cricket team’s tour to be suspended and threatening a sport in a region containing four of the nine test-playing nations. “If the message (of terrorists) is accepted then the pressure will build up,” said Zakir Hussain Syed, a cricket columnist. “For the masses, cricket is a recreational oxygen in the subcontinent.

Not only is the sport keenly followed on television, people go in large numbers to see their stars in action live on the grounds.”

The other five countries in the International Cricket Council - Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa and West Indies - have recently demonstrated their reluctance to visit the subcontinent, and the future of the sport could be bleak if that continues.

Hundreds of people have died in Pakistan this due to suicide bombings, forcing the ICC to postpone the biennial Champions Trophy - the second most prestigious one-day tournament after the World Cup - from September to a date still to be decided.

“You want cricket to be played in all parts of the world and that has been the problem with Pakistan, you haven’t been able to tour there because of the volatile country,” New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori said.

Vettori fears that test cricket could be restricted to being played in only a few countries if the security situation doesn’t improve.

“If other countries start going down that road then there will only be three or four countries you can play,” he said. “You never really want to go down that road, so you leave it to the people who make those decisions. We’ve trusted them in the past and we’ll trust them in the future.”

The concerns have even forced the Pakistan Cricket Board to consider staging a series against India at a neutral venue in January.

Syed feels subcontinental nations should focus on ensuring they play each other at home, and forget about convincing non-Asian countries that the region is safe.

“The only way I see the game progressing in subcontinent is that at least the bilateral series between the subcontinent teams be played in the respective countries,” said Syed, who has also worked as a development manager for the Asian Cricket Council.

ISLAMABAD, Thursday, AP