Pak tour hinges on security after election: CA

Agencies

Posted online: Thursday, February 14, 2008 at 1227 hrs IST

Sydney, February 14:
Cricket Australia (CA) clarified it has yet to take a final call on the tour of Pakistan and said it would depend on the security situation after the February 18 elections in the trouble-torn country.

CA chairman Creagh O'Connor has written to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) explaining that it has been advised by independent experts not to send Ricky Ponting's team to Pakistan in March-April because of the volatile security situation there.

CA said the letter did not say that the tour would be called off and such a decision would be taken only after assessing the security situation after the Pakistan general elections.

"We are very sympathetic to the PCB's concerns and frustrations and passion to see this to tour go ahead, but our pragmatic view is that the decision will be based on the safety and security advice we are given. We haven't reached that point yet," a CA spokesman was quoted as saying by The Age.

"The letter was designed to communicate that there are significant obstacles facing us as we contemplate this tour. It doesn't say those obstacles are a showstopper. We are still working through the process," the spokesman added.

PCB has said its two senior officials, Shafqat Naghmi and Zakir Khan, will hold talks with CA officials in Kuala Lumpur on the sidelines of the ICC Youth World Cup.