Referee: 'We were sitting ducks'
Updated on 04 March 2009
British cricket referee Chris Broad describes his anger at the security in Pakistan which left him and other match officials "sitting ducks" during the terrorist attack in Lahore.
Speaking at a press conference at Manchester airport on his return to the UK, the former England batsman said: "I am angry at the Pakistan security forces because we were promised that we would get presidential-style security.
"I had an inkling before this test match leg of the tour that something might happen. I certainly didn't think that this was going to happen, but I raised my concerns with the ICC before the tour started.
"They passed on my concerns to Zakir Khan who is the operations manager of the PCB and he assured me through email that all security would be taken care of, presidential-style security. And clearly that didn't happen.
"As we came round the roundabout we saw the Sri Lankan bus stop. We also came to a halt and there was this popping sound.
"It was Ahsan Raza, our fourth umpire, who said: 'Everyone on the floor, get down on the floor as quick as possible.'
"We were just there sitting ducks. I think most of us were just waiting for a bullet to hit us.
"I was lying on the van floor. There were bullets hitting the van, I don't know how many. It wasn't real to me, it's not a position I thought I'd find myself in.
"The worst case was Ahsan Raza, our fourth umpire during this test match, who took a bullet in the stomach, chest - I think somewhere in the spleen and lung region.
"I was lying behind him on the floor of the van. Bullets were flying all around us. I only noticed he was injured when this large pool of blood came from his back, spilled out on to the van floor and out through the partially opened door as well.
"When we were in the van we weren't aware of what was going on outside.
"After the incident and we were able to see television pictures, you can quite clearly see the white van that we were in next to the ambulance, the white ambulance, in the middle of this roundabout with terrorists shooting past our van, sometimes into our van, and not a sign of a policeman anywhere.
"They had clearly gone, left the scene and left us to be sitting ducks.
"I've enjoyed many happy games and many happy days in the subcontinent, even in Pakistan. I think it's a situation where we have just got to let the dust settle and see what come over the next three or four days."
"Somehow we have got to try and encourage the Pakistani people to keep playing cricket.
"Maybe there is something for the ICC to look at - that they themselves take the safety concerns into consideration, make decisions themselves about their match officials, their PCT.
"Because, of course, no official game can go ahead without the playing control team. So if the ICC says 'Don't go,' then it doesn't happen."
