England has "no safety concerns in the wake of Saturday's militant attack that killed seven people in London" and the Int'l Cricket Council Champions Trophy "must go on," cricketer Steve Finn said, according to Amlan Chakraborty of REUTERS. The attack was the "third major assault to hit Britain in less than three months." All team hotels "subsequently went into lockdown" and the ICC issued a statement on Sunday saying that it would "review security in line with threat levels." Finn said, "It is a sorry state of affairs but we will keep playing cricket and be defiant in the face of it and hopefully put a smile on people's faces here. We are fully supportive of the security plans that are in place. We have been briefed on how we are going to be protected." Some of his teammates were staying in a hotel "less than half a mile" from the attack, while cricketer Ben Stokes was dining in Leicester Square. Finn added, "Ben struggled to get back to the hotel because of the roads being cordoned off" (REUTERS, 6/5). In London, Collomosse, Majendie & Johnson reported cricket execs are "confident all teams competing in the Champions Trophy remain committed to the tournament." ICC officials held talks with the teams and they believe there is "currently no chance that any will pull out." It is "rare for cricket teams to withdraw from events on security grounds," though Australia pulled out of last year's U19 World Cup in Bangladesh for "those reasons." Extra security checks were in place at The Oval for Monday's match between Australia and Bangladesh, with supporters "encouraged to arrive early to prevent long queues building that could delay entry to the ground." Tennis' Queen's Club Championships in London, which get under way "in two weeks' time," said that "it would be reviewing security in conjunction with the authorities" (EVENING STANDARD, 6/5).
SCHEDULE CHANGE: SKY SPORTS reported India's Champions Trophy victory over Pakistan was "brought forward so it did not clash with the 'One Love Manchester' concert being held at the nearby Old Trafford cricket ground later in the evening in aid of those affected by the May 22 suicide bomb attack at the Manchester Arena," which killed 23 people. Victims' families were in the Old Trafford crowd, as were "about 300 members of the emergency services who dealt with the aftermath of the atrocity" (SKY SPORTS, 6/5).
WIMBLEDON: REUTERS' Karolos Grohmann reported three-time Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic said on Sunday that "he will not change plans or preparations for the tournament next month" after Saturday's attack in London. Djokovic added, "Everything will progress the same in terms of my plans for Wimbledon and I will try to go there with family, and of course be conscious. I think it's always about being conscious of what time of the day or night you go, where do you go, but, you know, it's very unpredictable" (REUTERS, 6/4).
SENSE OF NORMALCY: The ECONOMIC TIMES' Anand Vasu wrote it was "not quite Nero fiddling while Rome burned, but there was an eerie sense of calm at leafy Edgbaston where India and Pakistan played cricket against the backdrop of the atrocities of London." At Edgbaston, security was "always going to be a major factor given the political baggage that India-Pakistan cricket carries with it, wherever it goes." Security was "so tight at the venue" that BCCI Secretary Amitabh Chaudhary was "stopped from entering the ground, his accreditation not quite having made it into the back-end system." When play began, however, after a moment's silence for those who lost their lives in the attacks, India's batsmen "set about on the business-as-usual theme" (ECONOMIC TIMES, 6/5).
