‘Raised more questions than answers’ – Michael Atherton slams ECB chairman Ian Watmore for empty apology

Michael Atherton has once again slammed England Cricket Board (ECB) and its chairman Ian Watmore for not providing a solid justification behind the cancellation of the Pakistan tour. England’s men’s and women’s cricket team were scheduled to play a couple of T20Is in Pakistan in October. However, ECB shockingly cancelled the tour citing the physical and mental well being of the player.

The board’s reasoning didn’t go down well with many fans and experts including former England captain Michael Atherton. On multiple occasions, Atherton has hit ECB hard for calling off the tour. Although Watmore issued an apology and promise a ‘proper’ tour of Pakistan next year, Atherton wasn’t pleasant. The former cricketer claimed Ian Watmore’s press conference lacked answers and wasn’t focusing on the main issue.

Ian Watmore’s apology was more of an obfuscation: Michael Atherton

“It was more of an obfuscation than an apology, and raised more questions than answers. 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,” Atherton in an article published on The Times.

Notably, Watmore’s press conference took a strange turn when he dragged politics into the matter. “I don’t know if you read (US) President (Joe) Biden’s mind, but I didn’t know he was going to evacuate Afghanistan or that New Zealand would pull out of their tour while effectively warming up on the pitch,” Whatmore had said.

Taking a dig at his statement, Atherton said the ECB boss must have been ‘living under the rock.’ Meanwhile, like Atherton, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ramiz Raja was also left bewildered by Watmore’s statements.

“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,” Ramiz was quoted as saying by The Times.