Arthur Turner

Security problems have once again placed world cricket under threat with the terrorist attack in Mumbai and the subsequent postponement of the Champions League Twenty20 scheduled to take place in India. This is the second global event that has been postponed for security reasons this year.

Also, there is talk of India cancelling their tour of Pakistan and it is uncertain whether the England Test series in India will take place. The last two ODIs between England and India have also been cancelled.

The security issues are a perennial problem for the International Cricket Council, especially with tournaments and tours scheduled for the sub-continent. Over the years various tours to Pakistan and Sri Lanka have had to be either aborted or cancelled for security reasons.

The World Cup in 1996 was also affected when Australia and the West Indies refused to play in Colombo and forfeited their matches. In 2006 South Africa curtailed their tour of Sri Lanka for security reasons.

There are certain people in world cricket who believe that the security problems of the sub-continent could lead to a split in world cricket. This is hard to believe as security problems are not only limited to the sub-continent, but to other cricket playing nations as well. The Australian tour of England in 2005 was also under threat because of the terrorist attacks on London.

The real concern for world cricket is that if security situation deteriorates further on the sub-continent, this will damage the global game as four of the Test playing nations are on the sub-continent. Already we have seen how Pakistan has been affected. Their very future as a cricketing nation is under threat because of ongoing security problems. Countries have refused to tour Pakistan because of concerns for the safety of their players.

Not being realistic

The ICC has also not alleviated the problems by not being realistic on security matters as we saw with the postponement of the ICC Champions Trophy in September. The tournament should have been rescheduled immediately in another country once it became obvious that Pakistan was not safe to host the tournament. By postponing it they have just created confusion and compounded the future scheduling problems of international cricket. They need to be more pragmatic when in a crisis.

The Champions League Twenty20 will be very difficult to reschedule because of international commitments. South Africa and Australia are committed to a home and away series and England tour the West Indies in the new year. The only window available is when the Indian Premier League is due to start in April 2009.

Probably the only realistic option that exists is to play the tournament without the international players. However, the business partners and international players who stand to lose large sums of money would not be happy with this arrangement, but it would be better than cancelling the event altogether. The organisers owe it to the domestic players for the tournament to take place.

World cricket could also experience financial problems if India becomes marginalised for security reasons as they are the commercial driver of the game. The ICC and the rest of the cricketing nations sustain cricket and the development of the game on the massive amounts of money generated by the game in India.

If the sub-continent were to implode for whatever reason, world cricket could face possible bankruptcy.

Arthur is a former cricket administrator and current player agent.

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