PAKISTAN: CRICKET: Pakistan Cricket Board say that Australia's tour of the country has been postponed, not cancelled

Record ID: 177427

  • Title: PAKISTAN: CRICKET: Pakistan Cricket Board say that Australia's tour of the country has been postponed, not cancelled
  • Date: 12th March 2008
  • Summary: CHAIRMAN OF THE PAKISTAN CRICKET BOARD, NASIM ASHRAF, ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE REPORTERS WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) NASIM ASHRAF, CHAIRMAN OF PAKISTAN CRICKET BOARD, SAYING: "The tour has not been cancelled. The tour has been postponed and, according to ICC rules, Cricket Australia has to honour its commitments." NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) NA
  • Embargoed: 27th March 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: International Relations,Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA99FPN6FMD8D5FS0G3FLNDHFBU
  • Story Text: Pakistan on Tuesday (March 11) clarified that Australia have merely postponed their planned tour of Pakistan and not cancelled it altogether.
    The world champions were due to visit Pakistan at the end of this month for a 30-day tour but put the trip on hold after a spate of suicide bombings following the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto late last year.
    "The tour has not been cancelled. The tour has been postponed and, according to ICC rules, Cricket Australia (CA) has to honour its commitments," chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Nasim Ashraf, said at a news conference in Islamabad.
    Ashraf said Pakistan was very disappointed at the postponement and wanted the tour to be re-scheduled as quickly as possible.
    "From Pakistan's perspective, its a very disappointing outcome, and as I said every effort was made by PCB and also by Cricket Australia. They were very keen, they've said in their statement that 'this is a very difficult decision,' and that they wish no loss to Pakistan Cricket and that they would like to take this tour at the earliest opportunity."
    Ashraf rejected the impression that Australia's decision was linked to Tuesday's blasts in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore in which 20 people were killed.
    "The decision has nothing to do with today's blasts; their decision was made before the blasts occurred. Our stance has always been very clear: that these bomb blasts have been taking place in Pakistan since last year and they have no direct bearing on the sports world," Ashraf said, adding. "We still maintain that cricket series can be held normally in Pakistan."
    Australia had proposed to play the series at a neutral venue but the PCB declined, offering instead to reduce the number of match venues and provide unprecedented protection to the players.
    Ashraf said Bangladesh had already agreed to fill the void by playing a one-day series in Pakistan next month, while the PCB and CA would meet at the International Cricket Council's (ICC) headquarters in Dubai next week to discuss the possibility of rescheduling the tour, either next year or in 2010.
    Australia have not played a test match in Pakistan since 1998, with their three-test tour scheduled for four years later moved to Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates because of security issues.
    Doubts about this year's tour proceeding had been steadily increasing since Bhutto was assassinated on Dec. 27 with several senior Australian players publicly expressing their reservations about visiting the country.
    The decision to postpone the tour has opened the way for Australia's players to compete in the lucrative Indian Premier League.
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