SYDNEY, July 24: Australia’s cricket authorities said on Tuesday they would honour a commitment to tour Pakistan despite Hockey Australia’s decision to pull out of the Champions Trophy for security reasons.

“It’s our intention to fulfil our tour obligations,” a Cricket Australia (CA) spokesman said. “We will continue to monitor with the relevant security agencies both in Australia and overseas on the day-to-day developments in Pakistan.”

Australia’s under-19 and ‘A’ cricket teams are due to tour Pakistan from late August to October while Ricky Ponting’s side will play three Tests and five One-day Internationals in March next year. It will be Australia’s first Test tour of Pakistan since 1998-99.

Pakistani hockey officials said earlier on Tuesday that Australia, the Olympic hockey champions, had pulled out of the elite six-nation men’s Champions Trophy event in Pakistan in December because of security fears.

The move comes after a wave of suicide bombings and other attacks by militants in Pakistan following an army raid on the Lal Masjid in Islamabad earlier this month.

CA said while security was paramount for any tour, it planned at this stage to honour its commitments to Pakistan.

A five-man CA delegation led by operations manager Michael Brown and Australian Cricketers’ Association chief Paul Marsh completed an inspection of Pakistan last week.

“The group received some first-class presentations from the PCB and Pakistani authorities on a wide range of issues including security,” CA said.

“We feel we are in possession of good information and the most up-to-date information and right now we plan to fulfil our touring obligations with the Australian A team and the under-19 team with a view to Australia touring Pakistan early next year.”—AFP