ISLAMABAD, June 5: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)’s hopes of reviving Karachi as a regular Test venue received a rude shock when its England counterpart (ECB) refused to play a Test this winter not due to security concerns but because they didn’t want to be trapped in a crossfire.

“They have conveyed to us that while they don’t feel there is any direct threat to their players in Karachi but they don’t want to be caught in a crossfire as they have reservations over the atmosphere in the city,” PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan said after his return from London where he met his ECB counterpart David Morgan.

“Their main concern is that if they play a Test it would mean they would have to stay for a week in Karachi and they are not comfortable with that prospect. We have started looking at the possibility of just hosting a One-day International against them in the city,” he conceded.

England will arrive on first tour in five years on Oct 25 on a two-month tour during which they will play three Tests and five One-day Internationals.

Karachi has been a contentious venue on several teams’ itineraries in the recent past, and the suicide bomb attack earlier this week might well have exacerbated England’s concerns.

Australia, West Indies, South Africa, New Zealand and India had all declined to play a Test match in Karachi earlier, and since the 2002 bombing outside the New Zealand team’s hotel the only Bangladesh and Sri Lanka had played a Test there.

England’s refusal to play a Test anticipates that India will also object to playing in Karachi when they tour early next year. India had skipped Karachi and Peshawar on security reasons but had promised to play Tests in the 2006 series.

He said if the ECB persist to ignore Karachi as a Test venue, the PCB will then left with options to host Tests either at Faisalabad, Lahore, Rawalpindi or Multan.—PPI