Australia hope an International Cricket Council (ICC) meeting in Dubai on Wednesday will provide some "clarity" on security issues which threaten the Champions Trophy in Pakistan.
Australia are defending champions in the biennial event but the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) has recommended to its players that touring Pakistan for the eight-nation tournament starting on September 12 is not safe because of civil unrest.
Sri Lanka is a possible alternative venue but ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said the tournament would be staged in Pakistan as scheduled and it was too late to make a switch.
ACA chief Paul Marsh said if the tournament was to go ahead in Pakistan, Cricket Australia (CA) would be likely to decide on behalf of its players to abandon the tour.
"If not it will come down to a decision from the players," Marsh told AAP.
"Our position is that we can't recommend that our players should tour Pakistan.
"Our safety concerns are very much based on the report that was supplied by the ICC and the report of the FICA (world players' body) Commission which the Pakistan board has and the report that Reg Dickason completed for Cricket Australia."
CA spokesman Peter Young said Australia had yet to make a formal decision on contesting the tournament.
"We have considerable reservations, as do our players and the Australian Cricketers' Association," Young told AAP.
"The ICC understands the considerable reservations that we, New Zealand, England, South Africa and perhaps some others hold.
"We have been advised that they (ICC) will meet on the 20th of August to consider that situation.
"We're hoping that the ICC will give us some advice ... some sort of certainty within the next 24 hours about what the next step in this process is.
No comments:
Post a Comment