Bilal Ahmed wrote:
> I think it is a valid decision as the basis on which the whole issue
> resulted i.e. "Ball tampering by Pakistani bowlers", has already been
> found not correct.

For me, this has nothing to do with it.

> The point is when the two teams were ready to play and spectators
> wanted to watch the game, the umpires have no right to call off the game.

Nor this.

In both cases, whether it was right or wrong, for me is irrelevant. What
matters is that a governing body overuled the Laws of Cricket. And that
is a worrying thing.


> I don't think it is a dangerous precedent, and its better to move on
> with the decision as it will rarely change anything

I would have preferred to read this sentence a week or month or year
ago. But clearly folks couldn't move on. So, logically, I don't need to
either.


> The more i am concerned about is that this incident clearly opened up
> a wide divide among the cricketing world with all racism talk coming in.

Not from me.

> As a cricket fan I truly hope that like Asia Cup in Karachi we have a
> successful ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan in Sept. 2008. This event
> surely can help in getting rid of a lot of this off field non-sense
> and get back to cricket.

For me this won't happen either. As far as cricket goes, it will come
and go (if it goes ahead as planned) like so many other one day and
20/20 tournaments do; a weird sort of blur that means basically nothing.
As far as off-field nonsense goes, I can handle most things, but I love
cricket. With that love comes the respect for the Laws. People always
have and always will get it right, and be seen as wrong or get it wrong
and be seen as right. There are some Laws I think are silly, and others
that are as good as they can be. But all of them are what they are. For
me they should be stuck to. In this situation, the ICC, who controls the
running of the game, not the Laws, have overruled them. That is plain
wrong, and I will not accept it otherwise.

I am happy for you that you are enjoying your cricket.