Mazhar Khan
"Those who have qualified for the World Cup have made it by default. "The UAE could not make it as we were forced to keep our best players out," Abdulrehman Bukhatir, President of the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) told Gulf News. Bukhatir's comments came after the ECB officially lodged a protest to the International Cricket Council (ICC) on the refusal of the Canadian Embassy to grant visas to two of its top players for the ICC Trophy held in Toronto.

The UAE lost its chance to qualify for the 2003 World Cup after finishing fifth in the tournament.

"We could have made it if our best players were cleared. We thought the ICC would act immediately when they came to know that our players were having visa problems.

Unfortunately they did not give the issue any importance," added Bukhatir after informing the ICC chief "officially" that the refusal of visas by Canada had created an "uneven playing field" and this went against the spirit of the game.

The ECB has demanded an inquiry into the visa refusals and insisted that the matches be replayed in the greater interest of the game.

"Our boys have suffered. Because of the uncertainty about the visas we lost about 15-20 days of vital practice. In fact, because of the visa refusals we had to cancel a tour of the United Kingdom before the tournament," said ECB administrator Mazhar Khan.

"We were not even sure at one stage whether we would be able to go for the tournament. In the last four or five days, I was just managing to get the visas. This affected the team and it is clear from their early performances," said Mazhar Khan.

"During the associate members meeting and annual conferences in London on June 19, this matter was raised by West Africa, Nepal, Uganda and UAE. We were even given an assurance by the Canadian Cricket Association (the organisers of the event) and the ICC Trophy event manager that visas for all players will be sorted out. This was not done and the host nation has reneged on the promise," said Mazhar Khan.

Host Canada is among the nations which qualified for the World Cup. The ECB had also raised this matter when ICC president Malcolm Gray visited the UAE on June 12-13.

"It is unfair that we had to keep out our two best players due to the strange visa rules of a country. Imagine the World Cup 2003 taking place without Tendulkar, Dravid and the Waugh brothers or Lara and Atherton because of non-granting of visas for travel to South Africa.

"All ECB's matches should be replayed along with Nepal, West Africa and Uganda who faced similar situations. The matter should be taken seriously by the ICC," Mazhar Khan said.

"It is not just a matter of the UAE alone, even nations like Nepal and many others had to face such a situation and the ICC should immediately look into the matter with all seriousness," Bukhatir said.