Broad escapes unhurt but the driver is killed

Match referee Chris Broad walked around in a blood stained shirt while umpires Simon Taufel and Steve Davis looked dazed, just hours after the attack.

Match referee Chris Broad walked around in a blood stained shirt while umpires Simon Taufel and Steve Davis looked dazed, just hours after the attack.

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While they're used to dealing with incredible pressure in the cauldron of international cricket, nothing prepared the officials for this. "It was horrifying. There were bullets flying around us and we didn't know what was happening," Pakistani Test umpire Nadeem Ghouri said.

Travelling behind the Lankan team bus in their own minibus were the match officials — the umpires, reserve officials and match referee.

"When the firing started we all went down on the floor of the coach," said Ghouri. "Our driver was killed instantly from a shot from the front."

Ghouri said a local umpire, Ahsan Raza, was critically wounded in the initial stages of the assault.

Englishman Broad, a fiery former opener who had several clashes with umpires during his playing days, lay on top of him to protect him.

"It was very brave," said Ghouri.

While cricket is Pakistan's national sport, the country has been starved of Test matches for over a year because of security concerns.

First Australia and then India cancelled scheduled tours, before Sri Lanka agreed to step in to fill the breach.

"What is worse is that all the fears expressed by foreign teams about coming to Pakistan have been proved correct," said another former captain, Javed Miandad.

"Pakistan cricket will take a long time to recover," he said.

The 60,000-seat Gaddafi Stadium had previously been a happy hunting ground for Sri Lankan cricket. "We are going back today but it is a sad day for cricket," said Sri Lankan team manager Brendan Kurrupu.