‘Western arrogance’ — Michael Holding slams ECB for cancelling Pakistan tour
Michael Holding has come out with scything criticism of the England and Wales Cricket Board in particular in his statement after winning the Cricket Writers’ Club (CWC) Peter Smith Award.
In a shocking reveal, Holding emphatically declared that he “won’t miss” the game he had served for decades, stating that it is no longer like the game it once used to be.
In an acceptance interview with chair Alison Mitchell, Holding, who is set to step away from the commentary box after 31 years, accused the people running the game for their selfish decision making.
“I am very disappointed in the people who are running [the game] and the people managing it, and I won’t miss it when I go,” Holding said.
“I’ll miss the friendships that I’ve made, I’ll miss the great people I work with, but I won’t miss the game, because this game is not the game that I started playing and the game that I knew. It’s different.”
The ECB came in for severe criticism from Holding for their decision to withdraw from the Pakistan tour last month after New Zealand left Pakistan amidst security concerns. Blasting the ECB for their decision, Holding reminded them of what Pakistan had done for them at the start of cricket post the pandemic break.
“They were going for four days,” he said. “Pakistan went to England before vaccines were available, for six or seven weeks. They stayed, they played their cricket, they were in this bubble, which I was in, and yes it wasn’t fantastic, but it was better than going out into society where we knew Covid was and without any vaccinations for anyone.
“And yet they stayed, they played, they honoured what England wanted them to honour, to save England’s butt, to put it mildly. So did the West Indies. And you have an opportunity now to try to repay to a small degree what Pakistan did.”
“[The statement is] rubbish. I wouldn’t even pay attention to that statement, it doesn’t wash with me. I cannot even with those Mickey Mouse statements – no substance. Nobody wants to come forward and face up to anything because they know what they did was wrong, so they put out a statement and hide behind a statement.
“It just reminds me of the rubbish they did with Black Lives Matter. I won’t go back into that because I’ve said enough about that. But what that signal sends to me, is the same western arrogance. I will treat you how I feel like treating you, it doesn’t matter what you think, I’ll just do what I want. Four days in Pakistan? I’m absolutely sure they wouldn’t have done that to India, because India is rich and powerful.”
Michael Holding digs into ICC as well
Holding did not spare ICC either, criticising the governing body of being a “production company” interested in just commercialising the sport.
“The ICC right now are a production company,” Holding stated. “They manage their events, make a lot of money from their events, but they do not manage the game. This game is not being managed by the people responsible for managing the game.
“What they are trying to do is manage the money that the game can bring in, not the game – and that is very disappointing. I said this to my boss at Sky this summer. I said ‘this great game that made me what I am, I am very disappointed in it, I am disappointed in the people running it, and I won’t miss it when I go.'”