| Font Size - | -A +A |
A senior PCB official said comments on the issue would only be made tomorrow after the Board gets any information from Cricket Australia on what they plan to do.
He said the decision by the Australian Cricketers' Association not to send a representative to Pakistan with a CA security delegation was an internal issue between both the bodies.
"We do not deal with the ACA. Our dealings are with the CA. So we do not want to comment on this latest development," he said.
CA and the ACA would attend a briefing on the security situation in Pakistan from their Ministry of Foreign and Trade Affairs in Canberra today after which they are expected to take a joint decision on whether it was worthwhile sending an inspection team to the sub-continent nation.
If the CA decides against sending their delegation, it would virtually mean that they have cancelled the scheduled tour.
The official did not deny that playing at neutral venues and inviting Bangladesh were some of the options for PCB if the Australians did not come to Pakistan.
He said the PCB would wait for a final word from Australia before reacting on the issue.
But, Pakistan has already ruled out playing the series at a neutral venue and has said that it would rather accept a cancellation and postponement of the series. The official said even if Bangladesh gave the nod for a short one-day series, Pakistan would still suffer loss of revenues of around USD 5.4 million from the sale of television rights and other properties of the high profile series scheduled against Australia.
"We have estimated a projected income of around USD 7 million from the Australian series and we have also got the series insured for a similar amount. But more than the money we are worried about the damage Pakistan cricket would suffer in the long run if they (Australia) do not come," he said.
Sources said Pakistan was considering Abu Dhabi, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka as possible neutral venues, but had also started making approaches to the International Cricket Council and other cricket boards to help ensure the Australians went ahead with their scheduled tour.
India has already refused an invitation to play three one-dayers in mid-March to fill in the gap in case the Australians do not come to Pakistan.
| Ads by Google |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Rate this article |
|
Digg
Yahoo
Fark
del.icio.us
Newsvine
Reddit