"A very brave and courageous decision"

The ECB has now confirmed that England's first-choice test squad will play the two-test series in India. The announcement comes a couple of days after the ECB got its players to leave for Abu Dhabi.

If I were an England player, I'd be really scared. But scared not because of the potential of being a terror attack victim, but because of the language that Hugh Morris, the ECB Managing Director used.

The players have made a very brave and courageous decision and that will be hugely respected all around the world.

If you know your "Yes, Minister" & "Yes, Prime Minister" phrases, words like 'brave' and 'courageous' are typically used to refer to daft decisions taken without thinking through the consequences.

Sample this: "A controversial decision will merely lose you votes, a courageous decision will lose you the election"!

In a sense, the ECB has avoided a potential conflict with the BCCI. If the security advice given to the ECB been favourable to continuing the tour, and the ECB had cancelled the tour since its players were uncomfortable, the BCCI would have demanded compensation running into millions of {insert favourite non-Zimbabwe currency}.

Update: I just read Patrick Kidd's report for 'The Times' where he says the journalists saw that Steve Harmison looked positively pissed off at the turn of events and the eventual decision to go ahead to India. I don't understand why Harmison, or anyone else who was cagey about touring now, was forced to go along with the majority. If he had his own reasons for being worried, he was entitled to ask not to be picked for the tour.

In case of players complaining about burn-out, I believe they should just shut up and withdraw from tours. They're obviously taking a risk, especially in the event that the replacement does a good job. In a similar manner, players who withdraw from tours for security reasons should also be treated similarly.

Labels: ecb, eng v ind 2008, england, india, security, terrorism