As the cricket is a very famous sport, which is played worldwide by men, women and children of all ages. Over the years, the beauty of this sport (played between two teams) has been appreciated and acknowledged by many. However, cricket hasn’t been always a gentlemanly game with players, coaches, umpires and referees all. There were encounters of various unsavoury incidents which ultimately resulted in delay, postponement or cancellations of scheduled matches.
Talking about such situations, there were several occasions when cricket teams have refused to visit a particular country in order to play matches. Moreover, the reasons behind these were security threats, political issues and many more.
Few of such incidents are discussed below:
Australia vs Sri Lanka (1996)
The team of Australia didn’t go to Sri Lanka at the World Cup tournament of 1996, which was co-hosted by Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India. While briefing about the reason behind, the Australians talked about security threats as a result of a bombing incident, that took place in Colombo a month prior to the World Cup. And finally, the two faced off in the final, held on Pakistan.
West Indies vs Sri Lanka (1996)
The Australians’ refusal on visiting Sri Lanka, was however being followed by West Indies. The team of West Indies declined to visit the country during their group stage encounter against Sri Lanka.
New Zealand vs Pakistan (2002)
The New Zealand’s match of 2022, scheduled at Pakistan was called off. It happened as a result of a suicide bomb attack, which took place outside the hotel where both of the team players were staying. However, it was discovered later that not any player was injured. Also, the attack was being targeted at French naval technicians, who were working on a submarine project in Karachi.
England vs Zimbabwe (2003)
As per reports, the World Cup tournament of 2003 was co-hosted by Zimbabwe, Kenya and South Africa. But, due to political and social unrest in Zimbabwe under the reign of Robert Mugabe, the England cricket team refused to travel to the country.
Australia vs Bangladesh (2015)
The test series between Australia and Bangladesh, scheduled to be held on Bangladesh was called off by the Australians. According to reports, this cancellation happened to take place after an Italian charity worker was shot dead in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The Australians announced the cancellation citing the incident to be “a threat to Australian interests”. Moreover, the match has been reported as the first test series of Bangladesh against Australia, in a period of nine years.
