West Indian great Michael Holding has said that the England and Wales Cricket Board showed “Western arrogance” by pulling out of their tour of Pakistan last month.
At the time, the ECB cited “increasing concerns” about travelling in the region and “pressures” of bubble environments to cancel men’s and women’s teams white-ball tours in Pakistan.
Speaking after receiving the Cricket Writers’ Club Peter Smith Award, Holding said, “The ECB statement doesn’t wash with me. No substance.”
He said, “Nobody wants to come forward and face up to anything because they know what they did was wrong. So, they put out a statement and hid behind a statement. It just reminds me of the rubbish they did with Black Lives Matter. I won’t go back into that because I’ve said enough about that. But what that signal sends to me, is the same Western arrogance.”
The legendary bowler said, “I will treat you how I feel like treating you, it doesn’t matter what you think, I’ll just do what I want. Pakistan went to England before vaccines were available for six or seven weeks. They stayed, they played their cricket, they honoured what England wanted them to honour, to save England’s butt, to put it mildly.”
ECB would not do this to India
Referring to the Big Three alliance, Holding said, “Four days in Pakistan? I’m absolutely sure they would not have done that to India because India is rich and powerful.”
Just three days before the ECB withdrew from the tour, New Zealand abruptly abandoned their Pakistan tour on the eve of the first ODI, citing an unspecified “specific and credible threat”.
Meanwhile, the ECB statement did not reference security issues. In response, Pakistan Cricket Board’s chairman Ramiz Raja said the ECB’s reasoning was “not good enough”.
Pakistan heeded ECB’s call amidst peak COVID-19
Earlier at the peak of the pandemic, Pakistan’s men travelled to England for three Tests and three T20s in the summer of 2020. All of the fixtures were played in a bio-secure environment without fans.
Holding, who played 60 Tests for West Indies, will retire from commentary this year. He was rewarded by the Cricket Writers’ Club for his “outstanding contribution to the presentation of cricket to the public”. He has passionately talked about racism in the past 18 months.
Meanwhile, Yorkshire batter Harry Brook won the Young Cricketer of the Year Award and England batter Sophia Dunkley the women’s cricketer award.
All-rounder Alice Capsey won the emerging player award after her role in The Hundred for Oval Invincibles while Nottinghamshire bowler Luke Fletcher was named County Championship Player of the Year and Alex Jervis the Disability Cricketer of the Year.
