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Sikhumbuzo Moyo Senior Sports Reporter
THE Zimbabwe cricket team landed at the Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore at 1.45AM yesterday to become the first full ICC member nation to tour Pakistan since March 2009.
Head of delegation Ozias Bvute immediately rubbished reports that the players were coerced into undertaking the trip.
He told a Press conference after checking into their heavily secured hotel that the tour was proof enough that cricket was and will be the winner, adding that no player signed any indemnity form before departure from Harare.
The Zimbabwean trip was in serious doubt after terror attacks in Karachi, a city more than 1,400km away from where the matches will take place that left some 43 people dead.
“Obviously human nature is such that it’s a common human tendency to spread malice and rumours but the position was that our players were offered the opportunity to voluntarily come to Pakistan, they accepted that position and this is why we’ve our full strength team. Nevertheless a few days prior to our arrival there were unfortunate events that occurred in Karachi and being human beings those events obviously unnerved a lot of people and created some doubts in members of our fraternity whether it’s the right thing to do. We obviously weighed the pros and cons of what it is we wanted to achieve and what we want to achieve is to be able to play cricket against our brothers. So therefore we’re here to affirm that position, that regardless of the various opinions that are being proffered throughout the world as to why we’re here, we’re here to play cricket and we’ll play cricket. No player signed any indemnity forms, they’re all here voluntarily,” said Bvute at the Press conference where he was flanked by national team skipper Elton Chigumbura.
He added that the Pakistan government and the Pakistan Cricket Board pledged to ensure the Zimbabwe team’s safety and security, a position echoed by Chigumbura.
“Pakistan has done a lot to secure us so that we’ll be safe but the main thing for us is to play good cricket,” he said.
Bvute said they were happy to be in Pakistan and said cricket was a game that “we all love and we’ve come here in order to strengthen the bilateral relations between our two nations. Cricket is bigger than any one of us and we therefore hope by coming here we’ve shown that cricket is and will be the winner.”
He said he was also happy with the facilities that have been laid out for them saying the trip provides the perfect opportunity for the two nations to uphold the spirit of brotherhood.
“We’re here to uphold the spirit of brotherhood which makes up the cricket fraternity. For many years as you know Zimbabwe was isolated and therefore we understand the politics of isolation and we’ve therefore said isolation isn’t the right way for brothers to relate to one another. We mustn’t create barriers to exist between us and in order for us to do so we must interact and we’re here to affirm our position that brotherhood supersedes everything else and that cricket is what unites each and every one of us,” said Bvute.
He also refuted reports that Zimbabwe Cricket undertook the tour without the blessing of the Sports and Recreation Commission.
“The system of sports in Zimbabwe is that we’re governed by what’s called the Sports and Recreation Commission. The Sports and Recreation Commission wrote the Zimbabwe Cricket Board a letter indicating that the final decision as to whether the Zimbabwe senior cricket team would tour Pakistan or not solely rests with the Zimbabwe Cricket Board. Our chairman Wilson Manase took a decision and the decision was we were going to tour Pakistan. His board and the players are supportive of the decision which was taken and ultimately we’re here and that’s testimony of the fact that we’ve chosen to show that cricket is played and cricket is a winner,” said Bvute.
Zimbabwe will play two T20Is and three ODIs at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore between May 22 and 31 before departing on June 1.
According to Cricinfo, Zimbabwe landed amid extensive security, with thousands of policemen deployed along the 14 kilometre route to a five-star hotel on the Mall Road, which divides the eastern and western parts of Lahore. The touring group – 16 players, nine team officials and five board officials – was flanked by a large convoy of police commandos, after they had been received by two ministers from the ruling party, Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz, along with the top brass of the PCB.
The streets leading into Mall Road were closed to traffic, petrol stations along the route were closed, and even the police vehicles on duty had been authenticated to guard against impersonation.
Online Reporter