My Pakistani cricket team hat

Islamabad, Pakistan – The banner headlines in today’s newspapers say it all:
TERROR BOWLS CRICKET OUT, MUMBAI TERROR VISITS LAHORE.

Tuesday’s deadly terror attack on the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team in the eastern city of Lahore left eight from their team wounded and seven others dead, six of them security officers.  This was among the highest-profile attacks on a sports team since Palestinian militants killed eleven Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Stories are emerging of heroic actions, including the driver of the team’s bus who stayed behind the wheel and drove to safety even as bullets were whizzing through the windshield.  In total, twenty-five bullets struck the bus.

This is yet another blow to this country whose civilian government appears to be losing control at every turn, but this latest attack is a serious strike against the morale of the Pakistani people.  This in addition to ongoing battles with the Taliban and Al Qaeda, rolling blackouts and an economy that’s making it difficult for average people to feed their families let alone throwing the country’s poor further into desperation.

In this part of the world cricket is religion and now for the foreseeable future it will be impossible for the average Pakistani to see their national team play PERIOD, let alone on their own soil.  No teams will take the risk to come here for a match and the International Cricket Council is now reviewing Pakistan as a co-host for the 2011 Cricket World Cup.  Yesterday, New Zealand called off its December tour and the only reason the Sri Lankan team was in country this week is because India canceled its tour just after the Mumbai terror attacks in November.

About three months ago while poking through one of the many shopping areas here in the capital, I came across a sports store that carried the entire line of Pakistani cricket team jerseys and hats.  I bought a green cap with the team’s gold star emblem on the front.  Nearly every time I wore it, someone would comment on it.  It made their heart swell to see a foreigner wear their team’s hat.  Little did they know that I have never even been able to keep score in a cricket match, but even if they did, I’m sure it would not have mattered.

One of Fox News’ Pakistani employees was a spin bowler in his day.  I guess the best way to describe a spin bowler is like a starting pitcher in baseball with a mean curveball.  When word of the attack in Lahore came in, all he said was “Pakistani cricket, it’s now finished.”  For Munir’s sake, and for the millions of Pakistani cricket fans here, I hope that the lapse in matches will be a ‘tea break’ and not a permanent game ender.