March 12, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 3, 1429

MELBOURNE, March 11: Australian cricket chiefs announced on Tuesday that they had scrapped their upcoming tour of Pakistan, on the day two bombs tore through one of the cities where they had been due to play.

The tour, originally due to begin on March 29, had been in doubt for months amid questions about the level of security they would be assured in Pakistan, which has seen six major blasts since elections nearly a month ago.

Cricket Australia (CA) called it a postponement and said they hoped to fix new dates “in the near future.”

But it will not be this year, with CA chief executive James Sutherland telling reporters in Melbourne that there were “a couple of windows” in 2009 and 2010 when the tour may be able to proceed.

While CA said in a statement that it hoped the tour could be rescheduled “in the near future”, Sutherland made it clear that it would not happen before next year at the earliest.

“There's a couple of windows in 2009 and 2010 and there might be a little bit of massaging in order to make that happen,” he said.

Officials from both countries are scheduled to meet in Dubai next weekend to discuss possible dates for the deferred tour.

Sutherland denied that pressure from Australian players was behind the decision.

“I understand that some players may have had feelings about the tour, but from CA's perspective we had absolute obligations were committed to under the Future Tours programme,” he said.

“If the safety and security warnings had been sufficient for us to tour then we'd have toured.”

CA chairman Creagh O’Connor sympathised with Pakistan after PCB officials earlier announced the tour had been cancelled.

“We wish no loss to Pakistan Cricket Board and look forward to undertaking this tour in the near future,” CA chairman Creagh O'Connor said in a statement.

Sutherland said CA had little choice but to postpone the tour until the security situation in Pakistan “settled down”.

“Right now, it's not appropriate for us to be playing cricket in Pakistan,” he said.

He added CA acted on advice from the Australian government and its own advisers.

“Our absolute priority has been the security and safety of our players and our employees,” Sutherland said. “We've left no stone unturned, we wanted to play this tour.”

The announcement came as two bombs ripped through the offices of a federal police agency and an advertising company in Lahore, killing more than 20 people.

The Australian government, which has a travel advisory warning citizens against visiting Pakistan, welcomed the move, with Foreign Minister Stephen Smith portraying it as a joint decision between CA and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

“I welcome today's decision by Cricket Australia and the Pakistan Cricket Board to postpone the Australian cricket team's planned tour of Pakistan,” Smith said.

“The agreement reached between the two boards is a welcome outcome in light of the uncertainty surrounding the tour,” he added.

CA and the PCB said in a joint statement that officials from both countries would meet in Dubai next weekend to discuss possible new dates.

Several Australian players, including all-rounder Andrew Symonds and paceman Brett Lee had expressed reservations about touring the troubled country.

Sutherland denied player pressure was behind the decision saying the tour would have proceeded if security assessments had deemed it safe.

Sutherland further said neutral venues had been considered but the final decision on them had been up to Pakistan, which was “desperate for the tour to proceed on its home soil.

Asked if Australia had not cancelled the tour outright because it feared a fine from the International Cricket Council, Sutherland replied:

“It's not that easy to answer that question simply, there's a process that is in place under the ICC regulations and we've done everything in accordance with those regulations.”

Minnows Bangladesh later agreed to step into the breach and tour Pakistan in April.

“We have accepted Pakistan's proposal to play five one-day matches and a Twenty20 match in Pakistan in April,” Bangladesh Cricket Board official Gazi Ashaf Hossain Lipu said in Dhaka, adding dates remained to be fixed.—AFP