Pakistan will not participate in the Champions Trophy if the tournament is moved to another country, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have stated even as Shafqat Naghmi, the PCB's chief executive officer, was summoned urgently to Dubai yesterday. The eight-team competition is scheduled to be held from Sept 12-28 but Australia, England, South Africa and New Zealand have all expressed security concerns.
The ICC could not arrive at a decision after another meeting yesterday and the matter has been referred to the members again. According to the sources in ICC, the president David Morgan and vice president Sharad Pawar met with other officials and discussed the situation. They will speak again with Naghmi and the appointed Task Force over a tele-conference tomorrow. A final call will be taken by the board members on Sunday.
The ICC has had official delegations meeting with players from the four countries in an attempt to address the situation. However, their fears will not have been eased after a suicide bomber killed 23 people in a hospital in Peshawar on Tuesday, just a day after Pervez Musharraf stood down as the Pakistan president. Musharraf also ceased to be president of the PCB and chairman Nasim Ashraf followed suit by resigning. The PCB is currently contemplating an adhoc committee to be in place and has some internal issues on hand as well like making changes to its constitution.
But if the ICC decide to stage the Champions Trophy elsewhere - Sri Lanka has been touted as a possible destination - the PCB insist Pakistan will not be taking part. @Email:sport@thenational.ae
