Last Updated on 4 years by Charbel Coorey

Cricket News: PCB chairman Ramiz Raja rips into England, New Zealand | Ramiz Raja slams ENG, NZ after cancelled tours of Pakistan

Not even a month into his tenure as the new chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Ramiz Raja has experienced what most board presidents haven’t in their entire term. Two high profile white ball series have been cancelled due to the teams unwilling to put their players at risk.

Last week it was New Zealand who abandoned their first tour of Pakistan in more than 18 years before even the first ball was bowled. As per reports, NZC received direct messaging from the NZ government over a threat directly targeting the NZ players. This prompted the NZ team management to not think twice and jump on the first flight out of the country.

This left a lot of Pakistan fans and also the PCB in limbo. The PCB said that they had no prior intimation of the threat and the Pakistan authorities stressed on the fact that all the security was rightly in place.

After NZ abandoned their tour, there was some confusion in the air as to whether England Cricket will send their players, both Men and Women, over to Pakistan for their first tour since 2005. ECB put this confusion to rest by cancelling the said tour and further contributing to the anger of PCB and the cricket fans in Pakistan.

The ECB released a statement on Monday afternoon confirming that its board had “reluctantly decided to withdraw both teams from the October trip”, citing “increasing concerns about travelling to the region” and the prospect of adding “further pressure to a playing group who have already coped with a long period of operating in restricted Covid environments”.

This statement did not mention any security concerns, which was the main reason why NZ team abandoned their tour.

“The ECB has a longstanding commitment to tour Pakistan as part of the Men’s Future Tours Programme in 2022,” the statement said. “Earlier this year, we agreed to play two additional T20 World Cup warm-up games in Pakistan in October, adding a short women’s tour with double headers alongside the men’s games.

“The ECB Board convened this weekend to discuss these extra England Women’s and Men’s games in Pakistan and we can confirm that the Board has reluctantly decided to withdraw both teams from the October trip.

“The mental and physical well-being of our players and support staff remains our highest priority and this is even more critical given the times we are currently living in. We know there are increasing concerns about travelling to the region and believe that going ahead will add further pressure to a playing group who have already coped with a long period of operating in restricted Covid environments.

“There is the added complexity for our Men’s T20 squad. We believe that touring under these conditions will not be ideal preparation for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, where performing well remains a top priority for 2021.

“We understand that this decision will be a significant disappointment to the PCB, who have worked tirelessly to host the return of international cricket in their country. Their support of English and Welsh cricket over the last two summers has been a huge demonstration of friendship. We are sincerely sorry for the impact this will have on cricket in Pakistan and emphasise an ongoing commitment to our main touring plans there for 2022.”

Ramiz Raja slams England, New Zealand after abandoning tours of Pakistan

The statement was not well received by the PCB chairman and expressed his disappointment over social media where he accused the ECB of “failing a member of their Cricket fraternity when it needed it most”

Ramiz Raja also went onto to say that these cancellations will have further impact on the future tours by countries like West Indies and Australia, who are scheduled to tour Pakistan in 2022. Ramiz Raja also mentioned the Pakistan tours to England and NZ last year which the players undertook at the height of the pandemic, undergoing quarantine and serious bubble life.

Pakistan were supposed to play 12 T20s leading up to the World Cup but all their preparation plans have thrown into chaos with these cancellations. National T20 Cup starts on 23 September, which is the domestic T20 tournament held in Pakistan, which will now act as the preparations for the players going to the World Cup.

Ramiz went onto say “We go in the World Cup now and where we had one team in our target – our neighbours [India], they now add two more teams – New Zealand and England. So pick up the strength and develop a mindset that we are not going to lose because you didn’t do right by us with us and we will avenge that in the ground.”