Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) Chief Executive, Tim May expressed his organization’s surprise re the decision of the ICC’s CEC meeting relating to series where ICC will not supply match officials due to security concerns.

“The CEC noted that in the event of Pakistan and Bangladesh deciding that the tour should proceed and the ICC determining that it was unsafe to appoint match officials to the tour, a special dispensation to depart from the Standard Playing Conditions to allow non-neutral match officials to participate in the matches would be required from the ICC Board.

While acknowledging that the granting of such dispensation must involve a wide range of important considerations, the CEC agreed to recommend to the ICC Board that, from a cricket perspective only, the granting of the special dispensation would be justified.

May stated that it appears obvious the ICC has received specialist advice that is not safe to tour Pakistan and it will not be sending match officials to the series.

“It is concerning to hear that on the one hand the ICC will not be sending its match officials, because its specialist advice is  that it is not safe to tour Pakistan , but on the other hand the ICC will consider a proposal to amend the ICC Playing Conditions  so as to give the series  ICC recognition and endorsement.

“I am not sure how this idea even got off the ground. If the ICC cannot and will not send its officials to officiate in the series because it has been advised that it is not safe, it simply cannot contemplate any actions that will enhance the attractiveness of the series to others.”

“The ICC has a duty of care to its stakeholders – it has a duty of care to the players of teams, the officials of teams and the general public, irrespective of whether this is a bi lateral event or an ICC Event such as the World Cup.

“If it has specific information that Pakistan is not safe to tour, then it cannot and should not send a message out to these stakeholders that ICC not only recognizes this series, but has gone out of way to change its own Playing Conditions so it may endorse and promote this series.

“The ICC should be doing its utmost to convince the two Boards to postpone the series, NOT contemplating whether to amend its own rules to give the series “official endorsement.”

“The ICC is not the only organization to receive a negative security report of Pakistan – FICA commissioned a report in December 2011 from an independent security consultant and the advice was very clear cut – that from a security perspective, a cricket tour to Pakistan by any team is not manageable and presents as an unacceptable security risk.

ICC has been informed by FICA of the conclusion of the report.

“ We have a high level of empathy for the cricketers and people of Pakistan, and like all associated with the International game, hope that International cricket may return to Pakistan soon – but we must all ensure that our priorities are in order – and the number one priority is the safety of our participants, team officials and other stakeholders.”