ICC refuses to be drawn on 2011 World Cup

	David Morgan and Haroon Lorgat face the press at Lord's in the aftermath of the terror attack in Lahore © Getty Images

ICC president David Morgan has played down suggestions that the 2011 World Cup will be moved away from Pakistan where some of the matches are scheduled to be staged.

Speaking to a media conference at Lord's and flanked by chief executive Haroon Lorgat, Morgan admitted that the ICC "will have to think carefully about the extent Pakistan will be used for the event. The current situation need not perpetuate into the future. We must not believe Pakistan will remain unsafe for ever. Teams should not be expected to go there in the immediate future."

He added that the matter would not be discussed before the next ICC executive meeting which is scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi in April.

"This is a sad day for cricket and cricketers, Morgan continued. "On many occasions we have been told cricketers would never be targeted and this morning's events have proved that to be incorrect. The world is dangerous but cricket must and will go on. It was important that England returned to India, but we have to provide the safest possible environment for cricket to be played."

"I know for a fact that post the regime change in Pakistan the advice we got was very different," Lorgat said when asked about the ICC's assessments over the past year. "They were more confident under the previous regime and that's why we were not confident in holding the Champions Trophy in September. There was no threat up until today about any teams being a target." Morgan added that the Sri Lankan authorities would have been aware of the situation.

Morgan said the ICC had not been involved in assessing security for the Sri Lanka series. "The ICC only gets involved in assessing security if there is a disagreement between host and visitor. There was none and we were not asked to intervene."

"All of our assessments were that there were no threats against any sports, or cricket to be specific," Lorgat said. "The basis of gathering our security has changed and we will need to become tighter in how we do that. Once you breach a certain barrier then things change forever,"

Asked about the IPL, Lorgat insisted it was "a domestic event and the BCCI has contracted with players from elsewhere and I have no doubt the players and the member boards to which they belong will be reassessing the situation".

"Once you breach a certain barrier then things change forever," Lorgat said when asked if there could be more attacks targeted at cricketers. "The basis of gathering our security has changed. We will need to become tighter in how we do that."