Michael Holding tears into England for cancelling Pakistan tour

Former West Indies cricketer Michael Holding has blasted England for cancelling their Pakistan tour. The Three Lions were set to play two T20Is in Pakistan ahead of the T20 World Cup. However, since New Zealand abandoned their Pakistan tour due to security concerns, England too pulled out of the series despite multiple requests from the PCB.

Holding said England’s decision to call off the series show Western Arrogance. “The ECB statement doesn’t wash with me. No substance,” Holding was quoted as saying by BBC Sport after receiving the Cricket Writers’ Club Peter Smith Award on Tuesday.

“Nobody wants to come forward and face up to anything because they know what they did was wrong. So they put out a statement and hid behind a statement. It just reminds me of the rubbish they did with Black Lives Matter,” he said.

“I won’t go back into that because I’ve said enough about that. But what that signal sends to me, is the same Western arrogance. I will treat you how I feel like treating you, it doesn’t matter what you think, I’ll just do what I want,” he added.

Teams have refrained from visiting Pakistan after the deadly attack on the Sri Lanka team in 2009. However, of late things started to change, with Pakistan hosting Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and South Africa. New Zealand and England series though was a massive step forward in bringing cricket back to normalcy in Pakistan. Holding further sympathised with Pakistan saying they helped England by visiting the country in the pandemic but got nothing in return, adding that England would have never done the same to India because of financial benefits.

“Pakistan went to England before vaccines were available for six or seven weeks,” said Holding, who played 60 Tests for West Indies before becoming a celebrated commentator.

“They stayed, they played their cricket, they honoured what England wanted them to honour, to save England’s butt, to put it mildly.
“Four days in Pakistan? I’m absolutely sure they would not have done that to India, because India is rich and powerful.”