'Countries will regret pulling out of Trophy'

Haroon Lorgat

Denying a rift between the Asian bloc and the western world, International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive Haroon Lorgat believes a misconstrued picture by security experts hired by various boards to assess the situation in Pakistan led to the postponement of the Champions Trophy.
Speaking to Business Day, Lorgat said that countries that opted out of playing in Pakistan may look back and "think they made the wrong decision in deciding not to go."
Last month five of the eight participating nations -- England, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and West Indies -- confirmed during a teleconference that they would not send their teams for the event due to security concerns.
"The problem was that each country had its own security teams involved and they came up with differing views," Lorgat said. "I would like to look at ways of consolidating our security activities, so that there is only one security team involved in assessing these risks. Bob Nichols and his security team, which the ICC uses, are based in Pakistan and they thought the environment was safe enough. But others did not. However, I still believe they might now think they got it wrong."
Lorgat sought to play down talk of a divide in the cricketing world. "I was very wary of this whole thing when I came to Dubai to take up my post. So much had been made of the big divide in cricket that I was prepared to tread very warily," he said. "But since I have been here, I have not seen any sign of it. I have seen India and England take sides on some issues; I have seen England and New Zealand take sides against the others. I honestly do not believe there is this great divide in cricket."
Asked if the ICC was concerned over players influencing decision-making, Lorgat felt cricket's governing body needed to engage with the players more closely. "It is one thing for security teams on the ground in Pakistan to make their assessment but I think it is unfair for players sitting a long way away to make up their minds," he said. "Perhaps we need to get the Federation of International Cricket Associations more involved."
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has dismissed reports that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) attempted to get the Champions Trophy scrapped from the international calendar at the ICC meeting which postponed the eight-nation tourney, to be held here, until next year.
Reports have said that the Indians, at the last meeting of the ICC in Dubai, questioned the necessity of having the tournament in the first place.
But PCB chief operating officer Shafqat Naghmi said he was not aware of the Indian board raising any such objections.
"No one at the meeting said the Champions Trophy should not be held," Naghmi told PTI.
"I was there at the meeting and the Indians did raise a point about finding a new window because of their prior commitments next year but they never said the tournament should not be part of the international calendar," he added.
On the contrary, he said the Indians were quite flexible on adjusting the Future Tours Programme to find a new window for the tournament whose hosting rights are still with Pakistan.
"With India's support I am sure all other nations can do a bit of adjusting to find a new window for the tournament," Naghmi said.