Friday, August 2, 2002 It must be hot in Lahore because the general is steaming up again. Tauqir Zia, the military-man-turned-chairman of Pakistan's cricket board, is doing all he can to persuade Australia to tour in October but the Australians are reluctant to commit themselves. In desperation — it could only be in desperation — the general has threatened an Asian boycott of Australia if they do not.

Since New Zealand's recent tour was cut short by a suicide bombing outside the team hotel, international cricket in Pakistan has looked about as likely as the arrest of Osama bin Laden. Already, Pakistan have moved a triangular one-day series to Kenya, which the Australians are committed to but New Zealand ducked out of. And the next big home series is against the Aussies.

The Pakistan Cricket Board prefers not to play its home series on neutral venues because they don't pay well enough and the PCB is desperate for money. Cancelled tours over the last 18 months have had a crippling effect on the balance sheet, and although the ICC has claimed that it will not allow any cricket board to go bankrupt, you can understand why the PCB is alarmed.

Overtures are being made to Australia at all levels. The president of Pakistan has spoken to Australia's prime minister, and even Trevor Chappell, Pakistan's new-found fielding coach, has vouched for the safety of foreigners in Pakistan. Like most countries, Pakistan is safe for cricketers and Australia's players will be awarded the highest level of security—they should tour. But the PCB will give itself the best chance of attracting a team to its shores if it follows a strategy of persuasion instead of bullying.

The PCB should remember that it does not have the same marketing clout as its Indian counterpart, and a cancelled series against Pakistan does not hurt where it really counts: on the bottom line. The other fly in Zia's ointment is that although his colleagues on the Asian Cricket Council have threatened to boycott, en bloc, any country that pulls out of an Asian tour, there is a huge difference between talking the talk and walking the walk. It is inconceivable that India, for instance, would support Pakistan in any such charade, especially in the current political climate. Australia must know that.

Where does this leave Lieutenant-General Tauqir Zia? In a pickle, really. His nature is to boom orders but no-one listens if you are only armed with a pea-shooter — though they might be more attracted to you if you acquired the fragrant charms of a sweet-pea. The general wants good things for Pakistan cricket but a battle of egos is not a good thing, especially one that he cannot win.

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Kamran Abbasi, born in Lahore, brought up in Rotherham, is deputy editor of the British Medical Journal.

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