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World cricket boss Percy Sonn said on Sunday that he was disappointed at South Africa’s decision to abandon the tour of Sri Lanka for security reasons, but declined to impose sanctions on the Proteas.

“I am deeply disappointed at their decision to go home,” Sonn, a South African lawyer who heads the ICC, told a media conference in the Sri Lankan capital.

South Africa last week cancelled a limited-overs tri-series against India and Sri Lanka following a blast close to their team hotel on August 10 which killed seven people and wounded eight.

Cricket South Africa said the decision to pull out was based on reports from their own security officials and an ICC-commissioned independent assessment which ruled that “the current risk to the team in Colombo was at an unacceptable level.”

India, however, decided to stay on in Sri Lanka to play three one-dayers against the hosts in lieu of the cancelled tri-series following increased security assurances from New Delhi’s diplomatic mission here.

“South Africa withdrew for reasons that had nothing to do with cricket,” said Sonn, who took over as ICC chief last month from Pakistan’s Ehsan Mani. “That is not the spirit of cricket which says the game must go on in most circumstances. The cricketers are there to play the game and bring joy to millions of fans,” he added.

Sonn, however, said the ICC was not going to impose sanctions on the South Africans. “We live in an imperfect world,” he said. “Security is a sensitive issue and each team has to make a judgement. But it is not for the ICC to judge off-hand whether the South Africans were right or wrong in pulling out.”

Source:The News

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