CRICKET:Former England batsman Chris Broad has described his anger at the insufficient security in Pakistan which left him and other match officials "sitting ducks" during the terrorist attack in Lahore.
The van carrying Broad and other officials to the Gaddafi Stadium for the third day of the second Test came under fire yesterday as gunmen also targeted the Sri Lanka team bus.
Broad, who expressed fears for his security before the start of the tour, said at a press conference: "I am angry at the Pakistani security forces.
"We were promised high level security and in our hour of need that security vanished and they left us to be sitting ducks."
Broad continued: "I had an inkling before the Test match leg of the tour that something might happen.
"I raised my concerns with the ICC before the tour started and they passed on those concerns to the Pakistan Cricket Board and they assured me through email that all security would be taken care of, presidential-style security. And clearly that didn't happen.
"When we were in the van we weren't aware of what was going on outside. But afterwards when you watch the TV pictures you can clearly see the white van we were in, in the middle of a roundabout and not a sign of a policeman anywhere."
The 51-year-old's bravery has been highlighted after he lay on top of the critically injured local umpire Ahsan Raza in the van, the driver of which was killed by gunfire.
But Broad, struggling to hide his emotion, said: "I'm not a hero. Ahsan Raza took a bullet to the stomach or chest - somewhere in the spleen and lung region. I was lying behind him on the floor of the van and there were bullets flying all around us.
"I only noticed he was injured when I saw a large pool of blood had spilled on to the floor and out of the partially opened van door.
"He's just an umpire who loves the game."
Broad said the future looked bleak for cricket in Pakistan, and that the incident in Lahore had sounded the "death knell" for the sport in the country.
He said: "I don't know what the future holds for Pakistan cricket. They have a lot of very talented cricketers, and I feel sorry for the cricketers and for the cricket-mad public of Pakistan. They love to see cricket, they come in great numbers to one-day internationals.
"But this is a bit of a death knell for cricket in Pakistan and I feel sorry for those people.
"I can't see it going on for the foreseeable future. Ijaz Butt, the chairman has come out and said that friends will come to Pakistan but I don't think they have any friends in world cricket that will go to Pakistan after this has happened.”
Broad suggested the ICC should take more responsibility over security issues rather than leave such decisions in the hands of individual boards.
"There are countries who have their own security experts," he said. "I know England have Reg Dickason from Australia and other countries use him and his group to look at security.
"Reg Dickason didn't think Pakistan was safe for anyone to go to. He was amazed the Sri Lanka tour went ahead. But he's not advising Sri Lanka - he's advising England. England clearly wouldn't have gone into the same situation.
"Maybe there's something for the ICC to look at - that they themselves take the safety concerns into consideration, make decisions themselves about their match officials, the PCT,” he added. “So if the ICC say don't go then it doesn't happen."