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Published 11 Aug, 2008 12:00am

ICC task force members to spend busy day in Pindi

ISLAMABAD, Aug 10: Several members of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) task force will be arriving here early Monday morning to assess and review the security arrangements for next month’s Champions Trophy.

The six-member task force comprises Haroon Lorgat (CEO ICC), Campbell Jamieson, David Richardson, Brian Murgatroyd, Tim May and Tom Horrison.

The ICC has initiated the move of sending the task force in view of reservations from New Zealand, South Africa, England and Australian players over the security situation in Pakistan.

An official of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) told Dawn that “the task force officials will be given a security briefing on Monday at the Ministry of Interior and they will also visit the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium to assess the arrangements.”

“FICA chief Tim May has already arrived in Islamabad. He visited the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium and was given a comprehensive briefing from the PCB officials later on.”

Karachi and Lahore are the other two venues for the biennial mega event and the PCB spokesman added that the ICC team will leave for subsequent visits of the two cities late Monday night.

“Security assessment will be the key area for the officials who will be here on a two-day visit. They will then present a comprehensive report to the ICC Board which will announce a final decision on the event later this month,” the official concluded.

The Champions Trophy is scheduled to be held from September 12-28.

Our Sports Reporter adds from Lahore: A full-dress rehearsal of the security arrangements made for the ICC Champions Trophy is planned at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore as well as in National Stadium, Karachi for the ICC task force which is due to land in the wee hours of Monday at Islamabad.

It is learnt that the rehearsal at the Gaddafi Stadium will be held on at 4.00pm on Monday and the task force will visit every corner of the stadium to examine the standard of security arrangements.

Later on, a briefing will be given to the task force by CCPO Pervez Rathore at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).

The same drill will be followed at the NSK, Karachi on Tuesday after which the task force will return to England to compile its report.

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