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Cricket Players‘This has a bad taste to it’: McCLenaghan tells Hafeez not to blame New Zealand cricketers, then deletes tweet
Replying to Hafeez's tweet, New Zealand fast bowler McCLenaghan said the comment had a ‘bad taste to it’ and the players should not be blamed for what transpired as it was the government's decision. The New Zealand pacer, however, went on to delete his tweet after it went viral.
Mitchell McCLenaghan and Mohammad Hafeez shared their contrasting thoughts on the events of New Zealand pulling out of their limited-overs tour to Pakistan hours before the first ODI in Rawalpindi due to security reasons. Former Pakistan captain Hafeez posted a photograph of New Zealand players in the airport and said it was surprising that the visiting team could trust the same security forces on whom they had no belief a couple of days ago.
"Thanks to the security of Pakistan forces to make arrangements to @BLACKCAPS to reach at airport Safe & Sound. Wonder same route & same security but no threat today???," Hafeez had tweeted.
Replying to Hafeez's tweet, New Zealand fast bowler McCLenaghan said the comment had a ‘bad taste to it’ and the players should not be blamed for what transpired as it was the government's decision.
"Come now bro. This has a bad taste to it… Don't blame the players or the organisation… blame our government. They have only acted on the advice they have received. I'm absolutely certain these young men – all wanting to prove themselves wanted to play. they had no choice," McCLenaghan wrote on his twitter handle.
The New Zealand pacer, however, went on to delete his tweet after it went viral.
"What I can say is that we were advised this was a specific and credible threat against the team," NZC chief executive David White said.
"Everything changed on Friday. The advice changed, the threat level changed and, as a consequence, we took the only responsible course of action possible."
New Zealand had been visiting Pakistan for the first time in 18 years and also had been due to play five Twenty20 matches in Lahore.
Top teams have largely shunned Pakistan following an attack by Islamist militants on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore in 2009 that killed six policemen and two civilians.
The players left Islamabad by a chartered flight on Saturday and reached Dubai where the 34-strong contingent are undergoing 24-hour period of self-isolation, the NZC said in a statement.
Twenty four of them will return home next week, while the rest would join New Zealand's Twenty20 World Cup squad for the showpiece tournament scheduled in the United Arab Emirates and Oman from Oct. 17.
Stung by the shock withdrawal, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has threatened to take up the matter with the governing International Cricket Council.
Even Prime Minister Imran Khan's telephone discussion with New Zealand counterpart Jacinda Ardern could not save the tour and prevent a major blow to Pakistan's hopes of hosting top international teams.
"Unfortunately, given the advice we'd received, there was no way we could stay in the country," White said.
The advice was also supported by NZC's security consultants and other independent sources, the cricket board said.
While the general tenor of the threat was immediately shared with the PCB, White said specific details could not, and will not, be disclosed.
(With Reuters inputs)
