Shadows loom large over Champions Trophy

The
Pakistan Cricket Board might have welcomed ICC's green signal for
hosting the Champions Trophy, scheduled to be played from September
11-28, but mounting security concerns of teams has forced the benign
tournament into danger.

Australia,
who boycotted their tour to Pakistan earlier this year, have been
vociferous in their reluctance and Ricky Ponting and Andrew Symonds
have voiced their apprehensions. The Sydney Morning Herald claimed most of the leading Australian cricketers would pull out of the event if Pakistan do go on to host it.

New Zealand
too are unsure about the tournament. New Zealand Cricket (NZC) chief
executive Justin Vaughan will fly to London this week to discuss the
Kiwis' concerns over security. Kiwi captain Daniel Vettori said
Pakistan would be one of the "hot topics" of Vaughan's visit.

"If the
Australians have got concerns, I'm sure a lot of other teams will as
well. Guys will want to raise concerns if they have them (before
Vaughan), and hopefully we'll have some answers to all those issues,"
Vettori had said before an ODI game against England.

Media reports suggest that even senior England players are unwilling to go by the governing body's assertions. Daily Telegraph
claimed that "messages have been bouncing back and forward between
English and Australian players" in West Indies, for a concerted action
on the issue.

With
threats of pull-outs growing louder, the PCB is relying heavily on the
ICC officials' presentation about security arrangements being made for
the tournament in the chief executive's meeting this week.

"The (chief
executives') meeting in Dubai will be a good platform for the world's
cricket bosses to know about the sort of arrangements we are making for
the Champions Trophy,'' PCB's chief operating officer Shafqat Naghmi,
told The News.

However, it
may be recalled that Australia refused to tour Sri Lanka for the World
Cup in 1996 due to security concerns, and with other teams too feeling
uneasy, this years Champions Trophy has shadows looming large over it.