'Hypocrisy and double standards': UK journalist slams cancellation of England cricket tour

• ESPNcricinfo journalist George Dobell slams ECB for demanding much from others but not giving in return.
• Says English players will now be free to take part in IPL's knockout stages.
• ECB may find itself with less friends now, says Dobell.

Veteran cricket journalist George Dobell has taken the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to the cleaners for cancelling its tour to Pakistan, calling it out on its hypocrisy.

In his latest piece for ESPNcricinfo, Dobell pointed out how the law and order situation in the UK itself broke down a few days before the ICC Champions Trophy clash between India and Pakistan in 2017.

He was referring to a terrorist incident on London Bridge when a van was driven into pedestrians and the occupants of the van jumped out, going about on a stabbing spree. That venue, as Dobell pointed out, was about two miles from the venue for the tournament's final, at The Oval. Eleven people died, and 48 more were injured.

"But the next day, the game in Birmingham - about 110 miles northwest of London - went ahead. Indeed, every game in the tournament went ahead. Despite an obvious increase in security measures - including road blocks hundreds of yards from grounds and armed police at matches - none of the teams went home and every match was completed.

"At the time, many of us celebrated the defiant spirit that refused to be bowed by threats," he wrote.

He said that if life should be allowed to go on in Leicester and London, the same should be done for "Lahore and Larkana."

He said that ECB's walking away from the Pakistan tour proved that it "was a culture of double-standards which appears to view some nations are far less important than others."

He pointed out that the decision made less sense, give that the foreign office had not changed its travel policy towards Pakistan and neither had the advice of security experts in England changed.

"That is to say, they believed that, with the current protocols in place - the same protocols that allowed the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to visit Pakistan not so long ago - it was safe to travel. It is also understood the British High Commission was satisfied with the plans. This is categorically not a case where security advice has compelled the ECB to cancel," he added.

Dobell noted that the Pakistan tour was comprised of only four days, two days shorter than the quarantine period required for the quarantine period for players who wished to go to the UAE to compete in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

"England could surely have found 14 players who were prepared to tour; plenty more have visited Pakistan to play in the PSL, after all," he wrote.

When Pakistan helped out ECB during the pandemic

He lamented the ECB's treatment of Pakistan, especially when the Men in Green had answered England's call for help during the height of the pandemic last year and travelled "to a nation under siege from the virus."

"They [Pakistan cricket team] spent about seven weeks in the country in all - a country which, at that time, has no access to vaccines - and, by doing so, ensured English cricket was able to keep the lights on. Put simply, England - and all the England players who were not obliged to take pay-cuts - owe them."

The British journalist wrote about how England has cancelled, over the past 18 months, tours to Sri Lanka, South Africa, Pakistan and Bangladesh. "England are, it seems, all take and very little give."

He shared his suspicions of how the timing of the tour's cancellation enables English players to be free for the knockout stages of the IPL. "It is remarkable how often changes to the schedule of international cricket occur which just happen to benefit the IPL. This, after the abandonment of the Manchester Test, is the second time in little more than a week," he wrote.

Dobell spoke about the ECB's "hypocrisy", pointing out how Australia played an ODI series in the country three days after the horrific July 7 bombings that killed over 50 people.

Jarvo and the security breach

The British journalist then turned readers' attention to Jarvo's frequent ground invasions during the recently-concluded Test series between India and England.

"On at least one occasion, he made physical contact with a player. As it happens, he was nothing more than an attention-seeking buffoon. But what if he had been carrying a knife? Or a hammer? There is nothing that could have stopped him using it. England's security protocols failed. And they failed consistently.

"It's worth reflecting for a moment on how England would have reacted had any of these incident occurred to them while they were on tour," he added.

'Damage to relationships'

Dobell wrote how the ECB's decisions may cause the PCB to feel the financial sting from its pullout but said that it had also damaged relations with the PCB.

"There are those involved who feel they can no longer rely on the ECB's commitment. The PCB will therefore discuss cancelling the tour and arranging a replacement who can be relied upon.

"The ECB may well find itself short of friends the next time it calls for help. This was to have been a symbolically important tour. England have not visited Pakistan since 2005, after all, so this was an opportunity to thank the country for their assistance in 2020 and celebrate the return of normality to a cricket-loving nation which has been starved of the sport. It should have improved relationships," he wrote.