Australia send expert to review Pakistan security situation

Facing a tricky situation after its players expressed concerns on travelling to Pakistan for Champions Trophy in September, Cricket Australia (CA) is sending a security expert to assess security situation in that country.

Security expert Reg Dickason, on whose advice CA had postponed Australian tour to Pakistan in March-April, is again heading to Pakistan next week to assess the situation there.

An expert on security in Asia, Dickason worked with Australian team for a decade and is currently in West Indies with side. He also worked with England & New Zealand teams and was in Karachi when a suicide bomber blew up a naval bus outside team hotel where Kiwis were put up in 2003.

Australia skipper Ricky Ponting added to CA's discomfiture when he admitted that some of his teammates were ``apprehensive' of touring Pakistan for Champions Trophy due to security concerns.

Ponting said a number of his teammates were nervous and awaiting advice from Cricket Australia on the matter. ``We don't know if we're going, and if we do go, we don't know if individuals are going to pull out. But what we know right now is, yes, there is some apprehension among some of players and that was stated last summer.'

Federation of International Cricketers Associations (FICA) already expressed concern about players safety at Champions Trophy, particularly as tournament coincides with holy month of Ramadan and is due to begin on seventh anniversary of September 11 attacks on USA.

FICA chief executive Tim May said ``absolutely nothing had changed in Pakistan since Australia abandoned its tour three months ago.'