August 06, 2008	Wednesday	Sha’aban 3, 1429

LONDON, Aug 5: The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB has postponed making a decision on England’s participation in the Champions Trophy by a week as it has yet to receive an updated report on the security situation in Pakistan from the ICC.

It had been expected that an ICC task force would be in a position to submit its findings by last weekend, but these are now not expected before the end of this week.

“The board met this [Monday] morning and we are still waiting for the ICC to send their task force to Pakistan to discuss the security arrangements there,” ECB spokesperson Colin Gibson said.

“We are just awaiting those reports and we will confirm our arrangements to Pakistan as soon as possible within probably seven to 10 days.”

He emphasised that “before taking any decision on the tournament everybody would want to make sure that they have maximum number of pieces of information in hand, and that everything is safe and secure for our players”.

A number of England’s players are believed to have made it clear to the ECB that they are not willing to travel to Pakistan, and their position is supported by official Foreign Office advice against visiting the country at the present time.

Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman, informed the ICC last month that he had personally been told this by players.

Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are the three other countries also uncertain about sending their teams to Pakistan in September, and their boards are also waiting for the ICC recommendations.—Agencies