Sri Lankan cricketers attacked and shot in Pakistan

[DotCommunist]

You have a team fondly nicknamed that in the UK? That's wrong.

The Pakistani cricket team are known as the Pakis in Australia - by the public, commentators, ticketing agents, and the tourists themselves. It is not used in the context that it has been in British history as a racial slur.

well may I respectfully suggest that on a brit dominated board, it is liable to cause offense?

 

[Paulie Tandoori]

The Pakistani cricket team are known as the Pakis in Australia - by the public, commentators, ticketing agents, and the tourists themselves. It is not used in the context that it has been in British history as a racial slur.

That's because Australia is one of the most casually and unknowingly racist countries in the world probably. Imvho.

 

[Homeless Mal]

well may I respectfully suggest that on a brit dominated board, it is liable to cause offense?

If you know anything about cricket then it shouldn't cause offence. I wont use it again but it is not what you are trying to make it.

 

[Belushi]

If you know anything about cricket then it shouldn't cause offence. I wont use it again but it is not what you are trying to make it.

In Britain its really offensive, whether about cricket or not, I know that isnt the case in Oz.

 

[Homeless Mal]

That's because Australia is one of the most casually and unknowingly racist countries in the world probably. Imvho.

How very fair and non biased

 

[Paulie Tandoori]

How very fair and non biased

Indeed, about as fair and non-biased as trying to construct a credible argument as to why the term "paki" isn't offensive tbf

 

[agricola]

let me think - refusing to play, ball tampering - the list is endless. Why does the world need the pakistanis playing cricket?

No, the list is two. Ball-tampering is hardly a Pakistan-only crime as Athers so clearly demonstrated, and as for refusing to play they were wrong to do that - they should have played on and let Hair and Doctrove take the entirity of the blame for what was a ludicrous decision.

As for why the world needs Pakistan to play cricket, there are numerous reasons - not the least of which is that it is the absolute best link, and one of the very few remaining ones, between the West and Pakistani society. In cricketing terms it is one of ten (well, nine) Test-playing nations, cricket needs each and every one of them if it hopes to survive as an international sport.

 

[Homeless Mal]

Indeed, about as fair and non-biased as trying to construct a credible argument as to why the term "paki" isn't offensive tbf

You obviously do not have a strong background in cricket as you have misinterpreted the whole thing

 

[Streathamite]

a massive shame as cricket is such a strong force in the region and as people have noted this will probably kill Pakistan as an international player in the game

I'd have thought - for this reason - these attacks constitute an own goal: given how bonkers the Pakistani people are about cricket, the militants couldn't have found a way to make themselves more unpopular.
I just don't see how this helps them....

 

[JTG]

let me think - refusing to play, ball tampering - the list is endless. Why does the world need the pakistanis playing cricket?

Because any country which can produce Zaheer Abbas, Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Inzamam Ul Haq and any number of other fantastic entertainers needs to be in the cricket family.

Simple really.

 

[gunneradt]

well test cricket survived quite well without south africa for 20 years or so and I'm sure it can without Pakistan.

Australia hasn't toured Pakisatn for 10 years or so and I'm guessing no-one else will now wither.

 

[JTG]

It won't be better though

 

[Santino]

I would love to go and watch a Test at Lord's or the Oval as a neutral. I bet India vs Pakistan would be great.

 

[liquidlunch]

just listened to an interview with umpire Steve Davies who is back home in Adelaide.Poor bugger was still upset.He says that the 25 police commandoes took off when the shooting started and then the big bus and the little police car left the umpires to itHe said they were laying on the floor expecting to be shot at any moment.!0 mins later a policeman jumped in the seat and drove them to the stadium where everybody else was.Fuck that,the umpiring wasn't that bad surely

 

[Melinda]

LL, do you have a link to that interview? You should read Chris Broad's eyewitness account- Ive quoted it again below. It sounds like Chris was on the same Umpire's Bus as your Steve Davies.

The driver of their bus was shot and killed first to incapacitate the bus, thats why their bus was left behind when the Sri Lankan one moved off.

It seems unlikely that their escort abandoned them considering so many of them got shot the fuck up, 8 of them died. The guy who jumped into their bus and eventually drove it off saved their lives. Doesnt sound like cowardice to me.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/7922402.stm

 

[liquidlunch]

sorry but it was an on air interview.He was on the same bus as chris broad though.
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2008/s2508615.htm
This is interesting
eta,I did not insinuate the driver was a coward,i was talking about the 25 commandoes

 

[Nemo]

The sound of ineffectual official arse-covering is becoming deafening.

 

[agricola]

The sound of ineffectual official arse-covering is becoming deafening.

While I have sympathy for Broad and the rest of the umpires, he was not really in the best position to determine how events unfolded, and - as Butt said - his comments do ignore the fact that six cops died and rather more than that were injured in the attack.

It is also worth pointing out in response to Cork's comments that attacks of this kind cannot really be stopped or prevented once the ambush begins, even with far larger security forces than were present here.

 

[Nemo]

Judging by what a lot of statements have said, it appears that what happened was that a lot of the police escort went on to the stadium with the Sri Lankan team, not realising that the officials' bus was stranded because the driver had been shot. That would certainly explain a lot of the did they/didn't they desert them arguments. The PCB's position atm seems to be more founded on unrealistic expectations of future tours rather than anything else though. Whatever they say about the fate of the game in Pakistan as a result of no international tours - and it is a shame - no one will be going there for quite a while. After all, the Sri Lankans went there after other teams pulled out due to security concerns, and look what happened to them. I suspect that unless Pakistan are prepared to play all their matches abroad - either away tours or "home" games at neutral venues - they'll find themselves a little short of opponents.

 

[gunneradt]

No, the list is two. Ball-tampering is hardly a Pakistan-only crime as Athers so clearly demonstrated, and as for refusing to play they were wrong to do that - they should have played on and let Hair and Doctrove take the entirity of the blame for what was a ludicrous decision.

As for why the world needs Pakistan to play cricket, there are numerous reasons - not the least of which is that it is the absolute best link, and one of the very few remaining ones, between the West and Pakistani society. In cricketing terms it is one of ten (well, nine) Test-playing nations, cricket needs each and every one of them if it hopes to survive as an international sport.

Is it? I'll add match fixing and failed drug tests then.

 

[JTG]

Is it? I'll add match fixing and failed drug tests then.

Throw South Africa and Australia out as well then

 

[JTG]

Oh and Broad can shut up n all. Where was your police escort? Some of them were dead because they were trying to protect you, you overprivileged arse

 

[editor]

There's barely been a word mentioned of the bravery of the police who gave up their lives trying to protect the cricketers.

 

[slaar]

There's barely been a word mentioned of the bravery of the police who gave up their lives trying to protect the cricketers.

Innit. All those 'the police ran away' stories. How exactly did six of them end up lying on the road full of bullets then?

 

[agricola]

There's barely been a word mentioned of the bravery of the police who gave up their lives trying to protect the cricketers.

I agree, which is why Broad's attack - while understandable - was so wrong IMHO. This ambush failed in its ultimate aim to kill members of the Sri Lankan cricket team (given what Broad says it seems very unlikely that the officials were the targets), and it failed largely because of the extreme bravery of Pakistanis involved in the convoy (both the police officers of the escort and the driver Mohammad Khalil).

As for cricket, by far the strongest arguments following this incident have been made by Younis Khan in an interview with Cricinfo. In the short-term there is probably no chance of an international tour of Pakistan, but the cricketing world definately needs to embrace Pakistan and quickly.

 

[Paulie Tandoori]

There's barely been a word mentioned of the bravery of the police who gave up their lives trying to protect the cricketers.

tbh, some were even slagging them today in some copy i read which is pretty low. poor fuckers.

 

[slaar]

The PCB has hit back in the press, which is fair enough TBH:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/05/pakistan-cricket-board-attacks-broad

Six police died in the ambush and around 16 were injured, including six members of the Sri Lankan team and an English assistant coach. "Our people were injured, our policemen died," said Butt. "If someone is complaining who emerged without a scratch, he has no business doing so."

 

[Melinda]

The PCB has hit back in the press, which is fair enough TBH:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/05/pakistan-cricket-board-attacks-broad

Zing!

"If there was no security then how come six policemen died at the scene and 10 were injured?" said a furious Ijaz Butt, chairman of the PCB, at today's press conference. "Chris Broad was saved. A commando jumped on him and he was the one hit by a bullet."

Chris Broad looks like a *proper* chump, that rebuke has to hurt.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Well maybe. On the other hand if you've been shot at, if somebody's tried to kill you, I reckon you've probably got the right to say pretty much what you like for a few days. Cut the man some slack.

 

[g force]

Esp as all he was doing was leaving a cricket match. It seems Broad may have got some parts of his account wrong (so says the highly embarassed PCB and local Police..the commando "jumping on him" for example...) but he has every right to mightily fucked off at what happened.