August 14, 2008	Thursday	Sha'aban 11, 1429

NEW DELHI, Aug 13: The International Cricket Council (ICC) representatives will travel to four participating nations to allay safety fears over travelling to Pakistan for next month’s Champions Trophy, it said on Wednesday.

The delegations would travel to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and England, who have reservations over playing in Pakistan for the one-day event starting on Sept 12, and brief them on the arrangements, the ICC statement said.

Faced with a possible boycott, the sport’s governing body formed a task force that visited Pakistan on Tuesday to assess arrangements in the country.

It removed Rawalpindi as a venue, retaining only Lahore and Karachi.

ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat will head the group to England while the team to Australia and New Zealand will include Tim May, chief executive of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) and Pakistan’s Australian coach Geoff Lawson.

“Our desire is to ensure that every stakeholder is content with arrangements and is comfortable with the ICC Champions Trophy taking place in Pakistan,” ICC President David Morgan said.

The ICC would receive the feedback on Aug 20 to further fine tune arrangements, it added.

“We believe these visits will play a major role in achieving those ends,”Morgan stated.

Australia and New Zealand players were advised by their players’ associations last month not to travel to Pakistan, after the South African players’ body criticised the ICC decision for not moving the tournament from Pakistan.

Besides the hosts, West Indies, India and Sri Lanka are the other teams taking part in the eight-nation tournament.—Reuters