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| | Sunday, 26 May, 2002, 10:55 GMT 11:55 UK Pakistan consider neutral plan More than a million troops are massed on the border The military stand-off on the border with India may force Pakistan to move August's triangular one-day series against Australia and New Zealand to a neutral venue. "We do not want to put the lives of the guest teams at risk and will suggest them to play at a neutral place if the border situation remained tense," Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Lieutenant General Tauqir Zia said. "But the series is still two months away and we are confident that the situation will improve by that time. And in that case, we would obviously prefer to play here." Pakistan is due to play Australia four times between June and October, two of the competitions at the home venues.
But the latter matches are in doubt following the recent Karachi bomb attack and the present border situation between the two nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours. Many Australian players, including Mark Waugh, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, are reluctant to tour Pakistan tour after New Zealand were forced to abandon their trip earlier this month because of the incident in Karachi. "If the border situation doesn't improve, we will advise the ACB not to come to Pakistan in August," Zia said. "But apart from that, we haven't contacted them nor do we need to. It's their decision and they will have to take it. Our position is clear that we want to play in Pakistan. The PCB chief said, hoiwever, that Sharjah, Bangladesh and Morocco could all be used as neutral venues.
"I am grateful to all the three that they offered their facilities but it's still premature to choose any of them right now." The PCB has also asked the International Cricket Council (ICC) for compensation for the revenue it lost due to cancellation of a number of the home games. "I have asked the PCB treasurer to prepare a realistic estimate of the losses we are suffering and I will take this estimate to the ICC conference," Zia added. "It will also benefit other countries in the future as well." | | See also:  10 May 02 | Cricket 08 May 02 | Cricket 08 May 02 | Cricket 08 May 02 | South Asia Internet links: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top Cricket stories now: Links to more Cricket stories are at the foot of the page. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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