March 14, 2008	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 5, 1429

NEW DELHI, March 13: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has no immediate security concerns over staging the Champions Trophy in Pakistan this September, a spokesman for the governing body said on Thursday.

On Tuesday Australia postponed a 30-day tour due to start this month following a recent spate of bombings, including two in Lahore on the day the decision was made. A ICC delegation will visit Pakistan from March 20 to look at security and other arrangements for the eight-team tournament.

The spokesman said the possibility of moving the event out of Pakistan was not on the agenda of a two-day board meeting to be held at its Dubai headquarters from Monday.

“Like any other ICC event, we will have contingency plans,” he said by telephone from Dubai. “For example, for last year’s World Cup in West Indies, South Africa was the back-up venue.

“The ICC board is the only body that can decide on the shifting of the tournament. That is not being discussed at next week’s board meeting.”

Holders Australia are the top seeds for the biennial event, second in importance only to the World Cup.

Pakistan remain confident the other teams in the tournament can convince Australia to compete.

“The Champions Trophy is an event that involves eight countries. Australia is one of them,” Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief operating officer Shafqat Naghmi said on Thursday.

“We are confident the other seven nations will be able to pressurise Australia to travel.”

Cricket Australia said it would continue to monitor the security situation in Pakistan.

“We have maintained conditions are safe for cricket in Pakistan and we hope all the participating nations will have no problems playing in the Champions Trophy,” Naghmi said.

Cricket Australia said it would continue to monitor the security situation in Pakistan and that it would hopefully improve by September.

Naghmi said security for the Champions Trophy would be agreed in consultation with the ICC, cricket’s governing body.

“We have maintained conditions are safe for cricket in Pakistan and we hope all the participating nations will have no problems playing in the Champions Trophy,” he said.

Naghmi played down the suggestion Australia had postponed their Test and one-day tour with the consent of the PCB.

“If you want you can call it consent but it was a compromise for us in a helpless situation,” he said.

“Either we postponed the series or shifted it to a neutral venue which we didn’t want to do as it does no good for our cricket.”—Reuters