Ramiz Raja ‘severely disappointed’ with cricket’s 'Western Bloc'

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ramiz Raja was severely disappointed after England called off Pakistan tour on Monday while also slamming cricket’s ‘Western Bloc’.

England cricket chiefs withdrew their men’s and women’s teams from next month’s white-ball series in Pakistan citing “increasing concerns about travelling to the region” in a bitter blow to the South Asian nation.

The historic trip, which would have been the first ever by an England women’s team and the first by their male counterparts since 2005, was in serious doubt after New Zealand pulled out of their tour of Pakistan on Friday over security fears.

“I am severely disappointed in England’s withdrawal but it was expected because this western bloc gets united unfortunately and tries to back each other,” said Ramiz in a video released by the PCB.

“Now, this [England] was expected but this is a lesson for us because we go out of our way to accommodate and pamper these sides when they visit. And when we go there, we undergo strict quarantines and we tolerate their admonishments, but there is a lesson in this. That is, that from now on we will only go as far as is in our interest,” he added.

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Ramiz was also pessimistic about future tours of Pakistan by West Indies, later this year, and Australia in 2022.  

“Our interest is that cricket will not stop in our country and if the cricket fraternity will not take care of each other then there’s no point to it. New Zealand, then England, now we have a West Indies series that can also be hit, and Australia who is already reconsidering. This — England, Australia, New Zealand — is all one block. Who can we complain to? We thought they were our own but they haven’t accepted us as theirs,” he concluded.