No change in Australia's Pakistan tour plans

Cricket Australia will honour a commitment for its Australia A and under-19 sides to tour Pakistan despite Hockey Australia's decision to pull out of December's Champions Trophy for security reasons. The trips are scheduled for September and October, and a five-man delegation from Australia completed a security inspection of Pakistan last week.

"It's our intention to fulfil our tour obligations," a Cricket Australia spokesman told AFP. "We will continue to monitor with the relevant security agencies both in Australia and overseas on the day-to-day developments in Pakistan."

The commitment was only for this year's series, however the Australian board said at this stage it was still planning for Australia's three-Test tour of Pakistan next March to go ahead. There have been security concerns in Pakistan lately, after a wave of suicide bombings and other attacks by militants following an army raid on the pro-Taliban Red Mosque in Islamabad in early July.

Last week's inspection was led by Cricket Australia's operations manager Michael Brown and Paul Marsh, the chief executive of the Australian Cricketers' Association. "The group received some first-class presentations from the PCB and Pakistani authorities on a wide range of issues including security," the Cricket Australia spokesman said. "We feel we are in possession of good and the most up-to-date information."