Wednesday, Mar. 04, 2009
Sticky (Deadly) Wickets
The Australian cricketing authorities might well be tempted to declare, "told you so" in regards to their long standing adversity to touring in Pakistan, where they've not played since 1998 due to safety concerns. This reticence also extends to their having pulled out of a World Cup cricket match in Sri Lanka in 1996 because of the Central Bank bombing which took place that year in Colombo, the island-nation's capital.
Australia's neighbor, New Zealand, has nearly suffered at the hands of terror too. In 2002, a suicide bomb blast outside the team's hotel in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi left players unhurt but killed 11 French Navy experts, two Pakistanis and the team's physiotherapist.