No show but the show goes on: Cases where cricket teams had to save ICC tournaments – Sports

The first multilateral cricket tournament in the form of the Men's Cricket World Cup was held in 1975 and between then and now there have been many occasions where teams that were initially scheduled to play were unable to make it to the tournament itself.

This happened over the years due to a plethora of reasons ranging from visa issues, security concerns or even a pandemic.

This is especially relevant in relation to the controversy surrounding the Champions Trophy to be hosted by Pakistan next year. A deadlock has ensued after the Indian cricket board refused to send its team to Pakistan. The International Cricket Council (ICC) board will meet on Friday to decide the fate of the tournament.

One of the earlier examples of a team to refuse to play in an ICC tournament was during the 1996 Men's Cricket World Cup when the Australian and West Indian teams refused to travel to Sri Lanka, one of the co-hosts of that World Cup.

This was in the aftermath of a major bombing in Colombo which led to security concerns and the subsequent refusal of both the Australian and West Indies men's teams to tour Sri Lanka for their World Cup matches.

This even led to a combined Indo-Pak eleven touring Sri Lanka to demonstrate that the country was safe to host the World Cup matches. Badass players like Wasim Akram, Sachin Tendulkar, Waqar Younis and Anil Kumble played in that practice match under Muhammad Azharuddin.

Rashid Latif, who was part of the combined team that toured Sri Lanka, said Dawn.com that Pakistan is on a strong footing when it comes to the hosting issue, Pakistan should host as per ICC rules. Moreover, the Pakistan-India game is very important for both the ICC and the broadcasters because of the revenue it generates for them.

During the 1996 World Cup, both Australia and West Indies had to forfeit their match points for these matches after the ICC board voted in favor of the award the points went to the hosts, essentially giving Sri Lanka a walkover towards the semi-final which they grabbed with both hands, culminating in a famous victory over Australia in the final in Lahore.

On the way to the 2003 World Cup, held in three countries in southern Africa: South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya, England refused to travel to Zimbabwe and New Zealand to Kenya.

As expected at the time, the ICC board refused to move their matches to South Africa, ruling that the venues were safe, despite the pleas of safety concerns made by both teams.

Both times it was the home teams of Zimbabwe and Kenya the four points awarded for the match in accordance with ICC rules.

This also proved to have an impact on the tournament as both New Zealand and England failed to qualify for the second stage out of the top six teams.

Zimbabwe made it into the top six and the Kenyan amateur team ended up playing in the semi-finals of that tournament, giving Australia more than a few tense moments as they chased down a paltry total.

Zimbabwe were in the news again when Great Britain refused to issue their team visas for the 2009 T20 World Cup. However, they decided to withdraw from the tournament after negotiations with the ICC.

We decided to withdraw in the greater interest of the game, Peter Chingoka, the chairman of Zimbabwe Cricket at the time, had told ESPNCricinfo.

We have been informed that the British government is not allowed to grant visas to our players, and that situation may arise during the Twenty20 World Cup. We don't want to be gatecrashers; we will attend only those weddings to which we are invited, he said.

More recently, at the 2022 U-19 World Cup New Zealand withdrew due to extensive mandatory quarantine restrictions for minors upon their return home during the end of the Covid-19 pandemic. They were consequently replaced by the next team, Scotland.

These cases set the many precedents where teams were unable to travel to ICC cricket tournaments and the global cricket body always went ahead with the tournament despite the team's absence, treating the match as a walkover and awarding the points to the hosts.

Aatif Nawaz from BBC's Test Match Special while speaking on the subject said: The global cricket community must support Pakistan's stand, otherwise it must be further exposed as motivated by nothing but financial gain and falling in line.

If Pakistan were to be forced to travel to India again, it would show that the spirit of the game is just a farcical idea reared for the convenience of various administrations.

Whatever the outcome of the Champions Trophy issue, one thing is certain: international cricket will not develop into a truly global sport if the whims of a few outweigh the ambitions of the many.

Header image created with generative AI.