Clapham: Monty Panesar criticises decision to cancel upcoming series in Pakistan

Ex-England cricketer Monty Panesar has a regular column for one of our sister sites, Twickenham Nub News. This week, he shared his reaction to the decision taken by the England Cricket Board (ECB) to cancel its tour of Pakistan.

Monty Panesar writes for Nub News, telling us why he thinks it was wrong of the England to cancel its tour of Pakistan

The more fear you have, the less possibility there is of freedom. In this case – it seems – the ECB made their decision out of fear, and now some are labelling them as cowards.

The New Zealand team was the first to cancel its tour of Pakistan earlier this year, citing security concerns.

In contrast, we are being told the reason the ECB cancelled tours of Pakistan scheduled for both the England men's and women's teams due to concerns over 'mental and physical wellbeing'.

They had the opportunity to go against their anxiety and in its place provide an example to other cricketing nations that it is safe to tour Pakistan. Sadly, the failure to do so has created a divide with the Pakistan Cricket Board.

Before taking this decision, the ECB should have given more consideration to what Pakistan did for them in 2020. At a time when there was no Covid vaccine, the Pakistan players and support staff spent two months in a strict bio-bubble in order to make sure games went ahead and, as a result, helped the ECB to avoid huge losses.

The newly appointed chairmen of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Ramiz Raja, is extremely disappointed that England is not returning the favour, and rightly so.

It has been suggested that the England players did not want to tour Pakistan because of what has become known as 'bio-bubble exhaustion'. However, the England cricketer's union has denied that the players were involved in the decision.

Describing their decision in these terms, the ECB said: "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."

Regardless of what is claimed, I think the Afghanistan occupation by the Taliban, and the problems of Covid bubbles and player quarantine are the real reason the ECB decided to cancel the tour.

For the England players the tour cancellation would have come as a relief, as now they can play in the knockout stages in the IPL. Following that is the T20 World Cup, beginning on October 23, with the Ashes to follow and the men's tour of Caribbean scheduled in early 2022.

The tour of Pakistan would have been the perfect warm-up opportunity for the T20 World Cup.

The British government said it was safe to tour and Boris Johnson is known to be absolutely furious with the ECB, as the cancellation will impact the relationship between the two nations.

Clearly, having two tours cancelled is a major setback for Pakistan. Now the PCB chairman believes the aim should be to become the best team in the world to avoid international teams cancelling in the future.

The sad reality is that Pakistan risks losing more tours in the future. Australia is scheduled to tour in February 2022 and it can only be hoped that this goes ahead.

Looking ahead, the International Cricket Council and other cricket nations, particularly the ECB, must come together to encourage teams to tour Pakistan.

In 2022, the ECB must go beyond their means to accommodate Pakistan. Like Martin Luther King Jr said: "Life's persistent and most urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'"

Next year, cricket fans will be asking: "What will the ECB be doing for Pakistan and the Pakistan Cricket Board?". Perhaps the answer will be an agreement to tour Pakistan that is stuck to.

More from Monty

Monty tells Nub News why he turned down professional cricket opportunity