SYDNEY, Sept 21: Cricket Australia said on Sunday it hoped the security situation in Pakistan would calm down so that international cricket could again be played there, following a massive bomb blast in Islamabad.

At least 60 people were killed and over 200 injured in the suicide bombing at a hotel in Islamabad on Saturday.

“Our reaction is that it’s terribly sad and tragic news,” CA public affairs manager Peter Young said.

“We enjoy playing against them and we have tours coming up there next year of course,” he said.

“Everyone is praying quite fervently that the domestic situation there settles down so people can live their life in peace and hopefully we can start playing cricket there again.” Australia was one of the nations that declined to tour Pakistan this month for the International Cricket Council’s Champions Trophy on security grounds, which led to the tournament being put off by a year.

Australia also refused to undertake a Test tour of Pakistan last March-April over similar fears, instead agreeing to split it in two parts in 2009 and again in 2010.

“We do have cricket scheduled in Pakistan in 2009 and as always we’ll do a pre-tour assessment before we travel there,” Young said.

CA did decide to proceed with next month’s tour of India even after a series of deadly bomb attacks in New Delhi, prompting criticism from Pakistani officials.

As for the Champions Trophy, Young said the ICC was “trying to come up with dates and venues for that.”

“Of course, we were due to be there today. We would have been in Pakistan had the originally scheduled dates gone ahead,” he said.

Meanwhile, Australian captain Ricky Ponting said he was hopeful next month’s four-Test cricket series with India will be played in the right spirit.

The 15-man Australian squad left here late Sunday with only four players armed with Test match experience in India.

The nations were embroiled in an acrimonious series in Australia this year with Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh banned for three matches for allegedly racially abusing Australian allrounder Andrew Symonds during the second Test in Sydney in January.

The suspension was later overturned following an appeal hearing, but the relations between the two sides deteriorated as senior Australian batsman Matthew Hayden called Harbhajan an “obnoxious weed” on radio during the subsequent one-day series.Ponting said a number of major issues would be discussed by the teams during the traditional pre-series referees meeting and he was hopeful next month’s matches would be played in the right spirit.

“There’s been a very healthy rivalry between India and Australia in one-day and Test cricket and our last few Test encounters have been very good and some very close results,” Ponting told reporters before the team’s departure.

“Hopefully, this is another great series played in the right spirit.” Ponting said although he had security concerns on his mind in the wake of a suicide attack in Islamabad, he expressed no reservations about security issues in India.

But Ponting admitted security was on his mind as he said farewell to his wife and baby daughter.

“I’ve done it all day today, I’ve had a lot of discussions with my wife today about those exact issues,” Ponting said.

“Our advice was not to go to Pakistan and the advice that we received the last few weeks to tour India has been positive.” Ponting said he was determined to address his own poor record in India, having scored only one 50 in 14 Test innings there and averaging just 12 as opposed to his career mark of 58.

“I’ve had a couple of disappointing Test series (in India). In 2001, I made next to no runs,” Ponting said.

“The last series over there that we won, I broke my thumb and missed the first three Tests and came back for the last one, and that was the only one we lost.

“It’s certainly a void in my cricket resume in India and I’m obviously hoping to rectify that over the next six or seven weeks.”Ponting said the series represented a great challenge for Australia’s cricketers.

“There’s no doubt they (India) have got a lot more experience than we have going into this series,” he said.

“But I think we made too much of the conditions in India a lot of the time before we get there.

“I think quite often the less that you talk about it and the more you just get to understand it, the people and the conditions, the better off you are over there.” Chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch said substantial planning had gone into the Indian series.

“The tour of India is an icon series for the Australian team and the selection process has been a highly detailed exercise,” Hilditch said.

“A lot of planning has gone in to how we want to play against the Indian team and how we go about that in Indian conditions.” Australia’s opening Test against India starts in Bangalore on October 9.—AFP