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9/11 memories put cricket in context: US captain
Defeats in cricket matches are sometimes labelled a 'tragedy' for the losing team; really heavy reverses may even find themselves called a 'massacre'.
Defeats in cricket matches are sometimes labelled a "tragedy" for the losing team; really heavy reverses may even find themselves called a "massacre".
But Richard Staple, the captain of a United States team who are widely predicted to go down to a series of one-sided losses in the forthcoming ICC Champions Trophy tournament in England, knows better than most the ultimate unimportance of any cricket match.
Three years ago he was in his New York office, only one block away from the World Trade Center, when the first plane struck in the September 11 attacks that shocked the world.
And as he made his way towards the Twin Towers he witnessed the second plane collide in an incident that saw his friend Nizam Hafiz, the former United States cricketer, among those killed.
"I was there when it happened and I spoke to one of my friends just before who was one of the USA team and who died there," Staple told AFP here today at the Metroploitan Police sports ground where his team were playing a warm-up match against Zimbabwe.
"It was a sad moment for me. I worked about a block away and I saw the second plane hit the building," Staple, 34, a phone technician at the time of the attack but now a real estate agent, added.
"It certainly puts cricket into context. I was asked how would facing (Australia fast bowler) Brett Lee compare to a situation like that and there is no comparison. That was a question of life and death."
The US, who came through a qualifying tournament, begin their Champions Trophy campaign against New Zealand a day before the third anniversary of the attack, at The Oval.
The rank outsiders then face world champions Australia on September 13 at The Rose Bowl, a tie threatening to be one of the all-time mismatches.
But off-spinner Staple, who has played first-class cricket for his native Jamaica, insisted his team were looking forward to taking part.
