The International Cricket Council has decided to allow the 2008 Champions Trophy to be held in Pakistan as planned, despite security concerns and the possibility that players from Australia, New Zealand and England will refuse to play in the September tournament, forcing those countries to send weakened teams or pull out.ICC president David Morgan admitted on Thursday that he expects a number of countries to send depleted squads. “A number of countries today made it clear, as things stand currently, they will find it difficult to guarantee that first-choice 11s or squads would be at the ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan,” Morgan said. “Currently, New Zealand have great doubts about the availability of many of their first-choice players.”Pakistan Cricket Board chief Nasim Ashraf said the 10 full ICC members gave Pakistan the green light to hold the tournament after a board meeting. Pakistan’s status as host of the September 11-28 tournament had been in jeopardy because national ruling bodies and player representatives from some countries had expressed concerns about security following a wave of suicide bombings over the past year.“I am thankful to all the ICC member countries for their wisdom and looking at the larger interest of the game,” Ashraf said. “Pakistan remains a safe place to organise sports events and we hope it will be a world-class event.”Ashraf said the ICC formed an eight-member task force that will visit Pakistan and check security measures are implemented. “We will work in conjunction with embassies within Pakistan. who are also working with the task force, to ensure their security recommendations are carried out to the full,” Morgan said.While Pakistan had the clear support of the three other Asian members — India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, players from Australia, New Zealand and England have showed reservations over participating in the tournament. “There wasn’t a vote as such,” Morgan said. “There was a consensus that the event should be staged in Pakistan.”Australia allrounder Andrew Symonds has already said he will not travel to Pakistan, and Cricket Australia seemingly expressed sympathy with his stance by indicating that players who decide against touring for safety fears would not face future selection repercussions. Australia is the only major Test-playing country that has not toured Pakistan since 1997-98.ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said the task force will liaise with those players that have security concerns. “We are going to separate perception from reality and, while those concerns exist in terms of players, we will do our utmost to assure them that we would not go into an event where safety and security is going to be compromised,” he said. “We know of no credible threat against the event or against any team. For that matter, any player or individual. So, we are quite confident that the conflict currently ongoing in Pakistan is pretty much government and militants related.”Ashraf said the task force, which will include several senior ICC officials such as Morgan, will visit Pakistan and meet with top government officials to reassess security and check that recommendations were followed. He did not say when the task force would visit.
