Cricket: Pakistan faces future in limbo over risks of touring

By RICHARD BOOCK

World cricket was heading for another crisis last night after a lethal bomb blast in Karachi ended New Zealand's tour of Pakistan and threatened the likelihood of future visits to the region.

The bombing, which killed 12 people and sent the New Zealand team scurrying for cover, has raised doubts over the feasibility of touring Pakistan and has led to calls for the entire Indian sub-continent to be declared off-limits.

As the New Zealand side prepared to leave Karachi last night, Australian officials were talking to their Kiwi counterparts and reassessing the risks of their national side's tour to Pakistan in September.

Australia have already cancelled their tour of Zimbabwe, and could be facing a six-month break from international cricket if they decide the risk of travelling to Pakistan is too great.

New Zealand Cricket chief executive Martin Snedden said it was too early to gauge the fall-out from yesterday's abandonment, although he conceded that Pakistan was now in a difficult position.

"We probably have to let the dust settle before we make any hard-and-fast decisions, but it's fair to say the situation regarding Pakistan becomes a bit different after the scenes in Karachi.

"As far as the greater region is concerned, I think it's too soon to be drawing any conclusions and I'm reluctant to speculate on what might happen in other countries such as India and Sri Lanka."

He said the idea of not travelling to any of the countries on the Indian sub-continent would be an over-reaction because it was virtually impossible to tour without exposing the team to some degree of risk, however small.

Snedden, a member of the 1987 New Zealand side who fled Sri Lanka after a bomb blast in Colombo killed 100 people, said it was a straight-forward decision for his administration.

"We either take absolutely no risk at all, in which case we only ever tour Australia, or we take a more sensible approach, assess each tour on its merits and make a decision on the information we have at the time.

"There's more unrest around the cricketing world than there was 30 years ago, and far more than say the rugby fraternity have to cope with, so the dangers are more prevalent.

"But it's far too soon to start talking about not travelling to the sub-continent."

In terms of New Zealand touring obligations, Snedden said there was no truth to suggestions that his administration would have incurred a US$2 million ($4.4 million) penalty if they had not agreed to the present tour.

"The facts of the matter are that Pakistan beefed up their security for the visit and insisted that the environment would be as safe as possible, something we were able to check out through an advance scouting party led by [New Zealand team manager] Jeff Crowe.

"Jeff was also accompanied by the Australian Cricket Board's administration manager Richard Watson and their player association representative Tim May, as the Australians were anxious to monitor the situation themselves.

"We had a phone call from the ACB board yesterday, just to say they were thinking of us - but it's difficult to know how they will react."