June 12  
Australia look set to host Pakistan tour

SYDNEY: Australia look set to host a three-match Test series against Pakistan because of fears for safety on the sub-continent, an Australian Cricket Board (ACB) official said on Tuesday.

ACB Chief Executive James Sutherland would meet Pakistan Cricket Board officials that week to discuss the possibility, an ACB spokesman said. "Playing in Australia will be one of a number of options," he said.

The PCB officials are here for a three-game limited-over series starting on Wednesday (today) in Melbourne. Pakistan remain hopeful of staging a one-day series against Australia and New Zealand, followed by the Test series against Australia, but the volatile security on the sub-continent seems certain to force the matches to be played elsewhere.

Captain Steve Waugh and star bowlers Shane Warne and Glen McGrath have already said they did not want to tour. Pakistan manager Yawar Saeed said nothing would be decided until the end of June. "All we would like is for the cricket must go on, there must not be a starvation of cricket," he said. "Whatever the boards decide, we are quite happy to play wherever they decide."

Several neutral venues, including Sharjah and Morocco, have been put forward, but International Cricket Council (ICC) Chief Executive Malcolm Speed said Australia would be given first choice if the series were switched from Pakistan. "Our current rules say the first option is to go to the visiting country and see if it can be played there. If the tournament can be run at a profit, we would like it to go ahead."

Only a handful of people watched Pakistan play the West Indies in Sharjah last year and it was feared a neutral venue for the Pakistan-Australia series would be a money-loser. Reports in the Australian media on Tuesday said the one-day series looked set to be played in late August through September in Cairns, Brisbane and Perth, with the Test series in Brisbane, Sydney and Perth in October.

Australia have not lost a Test series at home for 10 years, winning or drawing their last 14 rubbers.

But this did not worry Saeed. "I don't think one should be looking in life for advantages all the time, one should be prepared to fight it out wherever one has to play," he said.