SHOW MUST GO ON

Cricket stars defiant after terror attacks

ENGLAND’S cricketers have vowed to remain defiant despite the terrorism threat as they prepare for their Champions Trophy match against New Zealand tomorrow.

Extra police and security staff were employed at yesterday’s game between Pakistan and India at Edgbaston, with all spectators undergoing bag checks and body patdowns.

Most of Eoin Morgan’s England side stayed within a mile of London Bridge on Saturday night, and hotels housing the tournament’s eight teams went into lockdown after the attack.

England’s recalled fast bowler Steven Finn said: ‘We are very comfortable there will be a ring of steel around us and everyone in the ground will be safe.

‘We are fully supportive of

the security plans that are in place. We have been briefed on how we are going to be protected,’ Finn said.

‘The attack on London was very random and as long as our minds are at ease over that we will be all right to play cricket.

‘A few guys had trouble getting back to the hotel after dinner because of the roads that had been cordoned off — Ben Stokes was having dinner in Leicester Square — but a few of the guys had gone home for the night and were doing their own thing. Luckily no one was caught up in it.

‘We toured Bangladesh last year under very tight security and were looked after very well. This tournament will be no different. We are obviously sad about what happened and send our condolences to all those involved.

‘It is a sorry state of affairs but we will keep playing cricket and be defiant in the face of it.’

England fast bowlers Liam Plunkett and Mark Wood had to travel to Cardiff by bus yesterday because their cars were parked in a police exclusion zone set up near their hotel.

Australia trained yesterday, only two miles away at the Oval, ahead of today’s game against Bangladesh.