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Aussie players mulling Pakistan tour withdrawal

Several Australian players may withdraw from this year's tour to Pakistan even if Cricket Australia's (CA) security team gives a positive account after its pre-tour inspection next month, according to reports in Sydney yesterday.

The assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and subsequent unrest -- as well as uncertainty over scheduled Jan. 8 elections -- have placed a question mark over the tour.

Australia are due to play three Tests, five one-day internationals, and a Twenty20 match in Pakistan in March and April.

The decision could be made for the players if the vote does not go ahead, with CA unlikely to approve the tour if the polls are postponed and political instability continues, reports said.

Test all-rounder Andrew Symonds voiced his concerns over touring Pakistan, but reports said another Australian Test player revealed that security fears are widespread throughout the team.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the player told the Sydney Morning Herald there was a possibility that a number of players would withdraw even if CA gives the go-ahead.

"People are concerned, there is no doubt about it," the player said. "These are genuine concerns, and there are obviously a few issues to sort through."

"It would be naive to think that everybody was rosy with going. Some people are going to have stronger opinions on it than others," he said.

"Cricket Australia are going to send a security delegation, and we will all be very interested in what they have to say, but in the end it's an individual decision, and I don't think you could say 100 percent that every individual is going to be OK with it," the player said.

"We're all aware of what's going on at the moment, and there is obviously a fair bit of time before the tour, so things could calm down," he said.

"Quite a few of the boys have been there before, either with the national team or on A-team tours, so there's a bit of knowledge about what lies ahead," the player said. "Having said that, the landscape has changed quite a lot since Australian teams were there, so we'll just have to wait and see what information comes back from CA."

Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) chief executive Paul Marsh said he will brief the players on the crisis in Pakistan while they are in Sydney for this week's second Test against India.

Marsh said each player was legally entitled to make an individual decision about touring Pakistan without breaching his contract, as leg-spinner Stuart MacGill did in withdrawing from the 2004 tour of Zimbabwe for moral reasons.
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