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LONDON - New Zealand Cricket (NZC) chief executive Justin Vaughan admits a "fair number" of players have expressed serious doubt about touring Pakistan as he hopes to ease their concerns tomorrow.
Vaughan will meet with the players in London on the eve of the fifth and final one-day
international against England.
NZC has agreed in principle to playing one-dayers in Multan (August 24) and Faisalabad (August 27 and 30) before September's Champions Trophy there, pending an independent report from regular security consultant Reg Dickason, of Australia.
Senior New Zealand players Daniel Vettori and Jacob Oram have both hinted at safety concerns within the team, while reports suggested some England and Australian players were considering boycotting the Champions Trophy.
Vaughan said he'd canvassed each player individually then would meet them as a group to discuss any concerns they had. Each has the option of withdrawing from the Pakistan tour without any threat to their contractual status or future selection.
"No one is saying 'I'm not going', but there's a fair number that are saying they're privately concerned, or getting concerns pushed onto them from their family or partners," he told NZPA.
"I can fully understand those. These issues have been around for a while, we need to work through a very thorough process and we should come up with the right result.
"It's still 2-1/2 months away and a lot can happen in that time. All I'm stressing to the players is they don't kneejerk into decisions at this stage."
Dickason, who was with the team when they abandoned their 2002 tour after a fatal bomb blast outside their Karachi hotel, is currently in Pakistan for the Asia Cup.
He will report on whether the level of security for visiting teams is up to scratch, with Australia and England also having called on his services.
Multan and Faisalabad aren't hosting Champions Trophy matches, hence the need for thorough checks of those cities.
Vaughan said New Zealand had been promised the "same level of security" for the three one-dayers as for the Champions Trophy, which is rated presidential level.
The ICC are preparing what Vaughan hoped would be a "robust" security report on Pakistan which could be tabled at the chief executives' meeting in Dubai this weekend.
"Pakistan is not the safest place in the world but whether those risks can be managed, I don't know whether we've got enough information yet to really correctly answer that question," Vaughan said.
New Zealand last toured Pakistan in 2003 for five one-day internationals, without incident.
Sri Lanka is the alternative Champions Trophy venue if Pakistan is deemed unsafe, while South Africa has been mooted as another backup venue.
Meanwhile, Vaughan met with England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief executive David Collier today to discuss reports of New Zealand's involvement in a lucrative Twenty20 quadrangular tournament in England next year.
Unconfirmed reports had New Zealand as one of four sides along with England, West Indies and Sri Lanka, competing for US$9.5 ($12.70) million in prizemoney bankrolled by Texan billionaire Allen Stanford.
"There's nothing concrete yet but there were good discussions and I think there's a good chance of us being involved," Vaughan said.
- NZPA
