Cricket: Windies tour on despite dramas

New Zealand Cricket yesterday reassured its West Indies counterpart that the forthcoming tour of the Caribbean will go ahead as planned.

Doubts surrounding the tour surfaced after the New Zealand team fled Pakistan before the second test last week following a suicide bombing which killed 14 people and injured many others outside the team's hotel in Karachi.

The New Zealand players have been offered counselling to help them to cope with the aftermath of the bombing.

Now they have little time to prepare for the tour of the Caribbean. The first tour match is scheduled for June 3 in Jamaica.

New Zealand are to play two tests and five one-day internationals in the West Indies.

NZC chief executive Martin Snedden yesterday said he saw no reason why the New Zealand team would not meet their obligation to tour the Caribbean.

"I am sure it will go ahead as scheduled. I haven't pressed the players too hard in recent days to require confirmation of their availability. But certainly ad hoc comments I'm getting from players are that they are very keen to go.

"They don't see any of the security issues that they'd see if they were touring Pakistan or the [Asian] sub-continent."

There was no chance of NZC seeking to delay the tour to allow its players more time to overcome the psychological impact of the Karachi bombing.

New Zealand are scheduled to be in the Caribbean for one month and any delay to the tour's original schedule would cause difficulties because the hurricane season was then due to hit the region.

"It's either on or it's off, and I am very confident it will be on," Snedden said.

"From the very brief conversations I've had with the players about this, they have no thoughts at all of not wanting to go to the Windies.

"They've had a bit on their minds over the last few days and because of that I haven't pushed them on this issue."

* Three Australian test stars said yesterday that they would refuse to tour Pakistan in September even if the Australian Cricket Board decided it was safe to go.

Captain Steve Waugh and bowlers Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne believed it was too dangerous to tour.

Warne said he would put his safety and family ahead of cricket.

"I don't think anyone would hold it against people if they decided not to go to Pakistan.

"It's a big decision, especially when you've got kids involved. I've got three kids, and there's a lot more at stake when you've got family. It's a pretty hostile place at the moment."

Warne said the Australian Cricket Board had made correct decisions in the past in cancelling a tour of Zimbabwe and forfeiting a 1996 World Cup match in Sri Lanka.

McGrath said he had already been told by his wife he would not be going to Pakistan.

"At the end of the day, we play cricket and we love what we do, but to put your life on the line for a sport, is not what it's all about," McGrath said.

Waugh said no one who felt at risk should be forced to go.

"We want to go out there and play cricket, but if you're in danger, you've got to consider what the options are.

"They've got to send players over there who want to go.

"If the players don't want to go, there's not much point in sending a team."

Pakistan has become a security flashpoint since the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

The Karachi bombing, which was immediately linked to Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, was the third attack involving foreigners in the country in six weeks.

- AGENCIES