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SYDNEY - Fresh doubts have been raised about Australia's tour of Pakistan going ahead after the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) cancelled its planned inspection because of security concerns.
The ACA had planned to send a delegate, Paul Marsh, to Pakistan to determine whether it was safe enough for the players to proceed with their tour.
But the ACA deemed it was too dangerous for Marsh to travel to Pakistan following a spate of violence, including two suicide bombings.
"We're not sending Paul Marsh on the pre-tour visit and that's basically because we as a board don't feel comfortable sending one of our employees there at the moment," ACA president Darren Lehmann said.
"So unless we have the right advice to say it's safe and say we can go, then we'll send someone but at the moment our advice is not to."
Lehmann said the final decision on whether the tour would go ahead had not yet been made but the ACA was planning to meet Cricket Australia and the Foreign Affairs Department this week to discuss the latest developments.
"On Wednesday we'll meet with the government departments and see what is really out there," he said.
"We'll get our advice from them, security issues, any other problems we have with Pakistan.
"I think they'd need a lot of assurances along the way."
Two weeks ago the Australian and Pakistan boards agreed to shorten the series to a month because of the security concerns.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has promised to provide added security for the Australian players in an attempt to save the tour.
Pakistan's Australian coach Geoff Lawson told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper he believed the players would be safe and the tour should go ahead but feared it would probably be cancelled.
"The PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) seems to be pretty negative about (the tour proceeding), only because the correspondence they've been receiving from Cricket Australia has been negative," Lawson said.
"Pretty much everything they've heard from CA has been a hedging of bets in case they decide not to come. The PCB have been pretty disappointed by the comments.
"Everyone here knows there would be no problem with the tour, yet the more likely scenario seems to be that it won't happen."
- REUTERS
