Security fears behind stayaway

SECURITY fears have stopped the island under-17 cricket team from playing in Israel this summer. The Guernsey team were due to take part in the European Cricket Council Second Division Championships near Tel Aviv at the end of August. But a number of incidents in the Middle East hotspot in the last few months have resulted in all the travelling countries pulling out of the tournament.

Jersey decided last week not to go.

'A letter is being sent today to the ECC jointly by Guernsey, France, Belgium and Italy to announce the joint decision to withdraw from the under-17 Second Division Championships,' said Guernsey Cricket Board president Dave Piesing yesterday.

'This follows Jersey's decision to withdraw last Thursday and is the culmination of my meetings with the various country board heads over the weekend. It was agreed that the security risk was unacceptable at the present time, resulting in parental withdrawals and a perceived high risk of further withdrawals between now and August and so an early decision was desired.'

Piesing admitted that the suicide bombing on 17 April in Tel Aviv that killed nine people and injured more than 60 was a major factor in the decision.

'The Easter bombing caused the problem,' he said.

'There was parental concern and people were hoping that the decision was going to be made for them.

'Everyone was in the same boat.'

It is now hoped that a replacement tournament can be arranged with Belgium or Holland looking the favourite locations at the moment.

'It is hoped that alternative arrangements can be made to try to organise some alternative cricket in another location for the participating countries, albeit not as a formal ECC event,' said Piesing.

'Those discussions will take place over the next few days but the immediate priority was to make the decision regarding Israel in the right manner. The GCB is fully committed to arranging some alternative cricket for our under-17s.'

Team manager Dave Nussbaumer said he was saddened by the outcome but he fully understood the reasoning.

'We're disappointed as we were looking forward to going, but parents were concerned and that's only right,' he said.