New Zealand cricket has defended its decision to abort the tour of Pakistan on the day of the scheduled start of the limited-overs series. It was just in the lead up to the opening ODI that NZC announced that they have cancelled their tour with immediate effect after a “specific and credible threat’. The players and the support staff arrived in Dubai in a special charter plane in the early hours of Sunday as per reports in the Cricbuzz.
A team of 34 members which includes 21 players and support staff will undergo a mandatory 24 hour of quarantine in their Dubai hotel before leaving for home in the course of the next week. 21 of them will return home “as flights and Managed Isolation and Quarantine rooms become available” said New Zealand cricket in their official statement.
Meanwhile, the remaining players will stay in UAE and join the New Zealand national T20 team with the T20 World Cup slated to be played in UAE and Oman from 17th October.
Without divulging much about the nature of the security concern which New Zealand cricket received on the day of the start of the ODI series, NZC chief executive David White stated that “everything changed” instantaneously on Friday, just hours before the start of a historic series.
White further stated that after hearing from the NZC’s security consultants who were present at the venue they were left with no choice but to abort the tour without playing a game.
"We appreciate this has been a terribly difficult time for the PCB and wish to pass on our sincere thanks to chief executive Wasim Khan and his team for their professionalism and care," White stated.
As per reports in the Cricbuzz, White further added that the intel was shared to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) but it was not possible to specify the details in public.
"What I can say is that we were advised this was a specific and credible threat against the team. We had several conversations with New Zealand government officials before making the decision and it was after informing the PCB of our position that we understand a telephone discussion was conducted between the respective Prime Ministers.
"Unfortunately, given the advice we'd received, there was no way we could stay in the country. Everything changed on Friday," White said.
"The advice changed, the threat level changed and, as a consequence, we took the only responsible course of action possible,” he concluded.