‘Living under a rock’: Atherton slams ECB Chairman for an empty apology

Ian Watmore's statement was more of an obfuscation than an apology, and raised more questions than answers

PHOTO: Reuters

Michael Atherton has once again hit out against the ECB and its chairman Ian Watmore for not providing a solid justification as to why the tour to Pakistan was cancelled.

Ian Watmore's press conference lacked answers, claimed former England cricketer in an article published on The Times.

"It was more of an obfuscation than an apology, and raised more questions than answers," Atherton wrote.

Atherton further mentioned that "Team England Player Participation (TEPP) held a number of meetings with the ECB over the tour and how Watmore can say the board made a decision based on the players’ mental health without wider consultation is a mystery."PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja, in conversation with Times, said that Ian Watmore's statement has also left him in a state of confusion.

"It is still a very confusing statement. Security was not discussed as a road block amongst us. Further, Christian Turner [the British high commissioner to Pakistan] nailed that argument by staying with an unchanged travel advisory for UK. And we know now that player welfare and security was not discussed with the team and, in fact, assumed as being compromised on the pretext of New Zealand withdrawing from the tour," said Ramiz.

The press conference took a strange turn when Ian Watmore commented on politics and said that "I didn’t know he was going to evacuate Afghanistan." This prompted a comical response from Atherton who said that Watmore must have been "living under a rock" because America had agreed to pull all of its troops out of Afghanistan back in 2020.

Ian Watmore is also expected to get a call from Yasmin Qureshi, the MP for Bolton South East demanding answers, according to Atherton.