England : The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Saturday revealed that the Lord’s Cricket Ground has been declared as “no-fly zone” for this year’s Men’s Cricket World Cup final clash between hosts England and New Zealand.
The development came after planes carrying flags with political messages related to Balochistan and Kashmir were flown across two venues during the tournament.
Keeping in mind the same, a source to the ICC confirmed that the cricket’s governing body said that the concerned authorities has declared Lord’s as “no fly zone” for Sunday as well as for the reserve day i.e July 15.
“It’s a no-fly zone at Lord’s Cricket Ground tomorrow keeping in mind the charted flight political messages incident. ICC have requested the concerned authority for the same. 14th and 15th (reserve day) July will be no-fly zone,” the ICC source told ANI.
Earlier this month, the ICC had expressed disappointment over the alleged security breach after two different planes with political messages flew across Headingley Stadium during the group stage clash of the 2019 World Cup between India and Sri Lanka.
The incident took place during the first innings of the game when a plane displaying a political message ”Justice For Kashmir” was spotted flying over the stadium.Minutes later, another plane carrying a banner, which read “India stop genocide and free Kashmir,” flew over the stadium on July 6.
Meanwhile, a plane with a banner “Justice for Balochistan” had also flown across this stadium during another clash between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
These incidents of the security breach are also a matter of grave concern for the ICC which is committed to providing a safe playing environment to all players and participating teams.
