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Australian cricket chiefs will stick to their plan to review security in Pakistan but were still committed to touring the troubled country next March despite widespread violence following the murder of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.
Should the tour be called off?
Australia refused to tour Pakistan in 2002 because of security concerns, while New Zealand left the country after a bomb went off on a bus outside their hotel three hours before the scheduled start of the second Test in Karachi also that year.
Although Bhutto’s assassination in Rawalpindi yesterday has heightened the tension in an already volatile country where terrorist groups including Al Qaeda are active, the final decision to tour will be Cricket Australia’s.
International Cricket Council chief executive Malcolm Speed today said the governing body would not force them to tour, while prime minister Kevin Rudd said it was a matter for CA.
“Our first and foremost concern, like Cricket Australia’s, is the safety and security of the Australian cricket team and we will be providing, through the government, every source of information necessary for Cricket Australia to be making an informed judgment about the future of that particular tour,” he said.
Mr Rudd said yesterday, before the assassination, his government did not want to interfere in sporting tours.
Australia is due to play three Tests, five one-dayers and a Twenty20 match in Pakistan in March and April.
CA chief executive James Sutherland said CA officials and security experts were expected to go ahead with their planned inspection of Pakistan in February and will report back with their recommendations on whether to tour.
Sutherland said CA could make its judgements following the inspection tour and after consulting the Australian and Pakistani governments.
“We have a commitment to tour Pakistan and we’ll be pursuing every avenue we can to ensure that it’s appropriate for that tour to be going ahead,” Sutherland said.
“At the same time we have absolutely top of mind the safety and security of our players and employees.
“We reserve our right to withdraw that commitment at any stage we see appropriate, but right now we’re not in a position to be making any decisions.”
Australian batsman Michael Clarke said the players would abide by CA’s decision.
“We’re in good hands with Cricket Australia, they’ll let us know when we’re closer to touring … I’ll go with what they say,” Clarke said.
Sutherland said switching the series to a neutral venue or even to Australia was not on the radar, while rescheduling the series in a packed international calendar would be a difficult task.
Australian Cricketers’ Association chief executive Paul Marsh said he had some concerns but had already been in regular contact with the Australian High Commission in Islamabad anyway and has been monitoring the situation in Pakistan every day.
He said there were no problems on the Australia A and under 19s tours of Pakistan earlier this year.
Cricket Australia risks a minimum $2 million fine if it refuses to tour if the ICC rules the series should go ahead.
Speed said while security cannot be guaranteed anywhere, the ICC prefers tours go ahead.
“We need to let things settle down there. Over the next two to three weeks, we will have a better view as to safety in Pakistan,” Speed said.
“Our position is that cricket is played in some dangerous countries, wherever possible we want to see cricket tours that are scheduled go ahead.”
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