 Graeme Smith's side have had safety fears over touring Pakistan |
South Africa have called off their tour of Pakistan because of safety worries. The squad was scheduled to leave on Sunday for a five-week trip, with three one-day internationals and three Tests.
But a bomb blast in Karachi on Friday led the United Cricket Board (UCB) to decide security levels had deteriorated.
"The decision has been taken with much regret," said UCB president Ray Mali.
"We know how much the tour means to the people of Pakistan and it is also a tour which we have been looking forward to.
"But the safety of our players is our primary concern."
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) confirmed it had received a fax cancelling the tour. "They have shocked us by calling off the tour," said PCB chief executive Ramiz Raja. "It's uncalled for and disappointing.
"The tour cancellation is a bad decision, not only for Pakistan cricket but also for South African cricket.
"If they had made up their minds earlier why did we carry out an exercise of giving security drills to their delegation?"
The PCB may now consider an earlier request to move fixtures away from Karachi and Peshawar in the hope of resurrecting the trip.
South Africa have offered either to host the series, play at a neutral venue or postpone to a later date.
But with �2.2m at stake in sponsorship and television money, Pakistan are keen to play at home.
"People are cricket-deprived and we need to give them more cricket," Raja said.
"We are hosting Bangladesh. The television crew is mostly South Africans and they have been here for the last month without any security."
International Cricket Council president Ehsan Mani said the game's governing body would "explore all available alternatives" to see if was possible to reschedule the tour.
Raja was also worried the decision could have a knock-on effect to the one-day series against New Zealand, planned for November.
The Black Caps cut short their tour in May 2002 after a bomb outside their Karachi hotel killed 14 people.
Karachi local police ruled out terrorism in Friday's office blast, and there were no deaths or injuries.
The current visit of the Bangladesh team is the first full tour to Pakistan by any country since the 11 September attacks two years ago.
Since then West Indies and Australia have opted to play Test series in neutral venues because of security fears.
South Africa's next scheduled action is the visit of the West Indies in December.
MMIX
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From a cricket point of view it's very disappointing 