SOUTH AFRICA says it is willing and able to stage the Champions Trophy if Pakistan is declared unsafe, but insists the International Cricket Council has not placed the 2003 World Cup hosts on stand-by.
At least 37 people were wounded in a succession of small explosions in Karachi on Monday, the day after a suicide bomber killed at least 15 people in Islamabad, casting further doubt on Pakistan's ability to host the tournament. Sri Lanka has volunteered itself as an alternative venue, but the Department of Foreign Affairs warned that civil unrest and political violence had claimed many civilian lives in Colombo and has advised Australians to reconsider their need to travel to the island nation. With players in Australia, New Zealand and England uncomfortable about touring Pakistan, the ICC is coming under more pressure with every blast to relocate the biggest one-day tournament of the year, or risk boycotts.
Cricket Australia chairman Creagh O'Connor has returned to Adelaide from Karachi, where he was a guest at the Asia Cup - considered a dress rehearsal for the Champions Trophy - and while he was there said he would "not force any player to go anywhere … if he has a legitimate reason not to do so".
The chief executive of Cricket South Africa, Gerald Majola, said his country could stage the event, scheduled to begin on September 11, so long as it had enough time to prepare.
"If requested by the ICC, and we agree on the terms and conditions of hosting the tournament, we will," Majola said. "ICC host agreements are very onerous, so you don't want to accept certain terms if you don't have time to do everything they ask for. We have to sit down with them and go through everything, and negotiate new terms. We have only one or two months to prepare. We have the ability to do it … I can't say we are applying for it, we're not. We would just be helping the ICC in the event of not being able to host it [in Pakistan]. We will wait for the ICC to approach us."
The chief executive of the Sri Lankan board, Duleep Mendis, insisted Sri Lanka was well-placed as an alternative host, and pointed to the imminent tour by India as evidence the country was safe.
"The venues are ready because we are going to stage the Indian tour as well here, it is just a matter of putting things together. ICC will give sufficient time, if by some chance things are not going to happen in Pakistan," Mendis said.
The ICC decision will be influenced by an independent security report due next week, while CA consultant Reg Dickason is preparing to brief the Australian, New Zealand and England boards after his inspection of security arrangements in Pakistan. Champions Trophy games are scheduled for Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi, although it is understood concerns were expressed about the latter two cities at last week's annual meetings in Dubai.
Meanwhile, Australian batsman Brad Hodge has been released from the remaining three months of his contract with Lancashire to stay with his sick wife, Meg, and their son, Jesse. "Brad's wife has been ill for some time, and although she is on the mend, it's important that he be at home in Melbourne during this period of recovery," Lancashire chief executive Jim Cumbes said.