Attack puts Pak tour in more doubt: Waugh

Australia Test cricketer Mark Waugh has said the latest violence in Pakistan places further doubt over Australia's tour of that country in October.

Six Pakistanis were shot dead in an attack on a school for children of foreign missionaries near Islamabad on Monday.

"Obviously what happened two days ago with the shooting at the international school puts a few more question marks over the tour," Waugh said in an interview on Australian radio station Sport 927 on Thursday.

"There's no doubt about that. I think the ACB (Australian Cricket Board) would be first to admit that."

Several other senior players have also expressed reservations about the tour.

ACB spokesman Pat O'Beirne said the latest attack "adds some currency" to advice the board is receiving from Australian Government officials and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

"The tragic recent incident has increased concern about the tour," O'Beirne told Reuters on Thursday.

"We will continue to monitor our information over the next short while."

SAFETY GUARANTEE

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf contacted Australian Prime Minister John Howard and told him that the safety of the Australian cricket team could be guaranteed, Howard revealed last week.

Howard said he had passed the information on to the ACB and told Musharraf that the decision would be made by the ACB, not the government.

PCB director Chishty Mujahid has made a veiled threat of retaliation if Australia refuses to tour.

"In those circumstances Pakistan will have to rely on the support it has in the Asian cricket bloc to find a permanent solution to this problem of teams refusing to tour Pakistan on security grounds," Mujahid said.

Pakistan's fixture list is in disarray after the September 11 hijacked plane attacks on the United States and the subsequent U.S.-led "war on terrorism".

The triangular one-day series has already been moved to Kenya, New Zealand pulled out of its tour after a bomb attack killed 11 French people in May and a tour by West Indies was played on neutral territory in Sharjah.

Australia's selectors have again excluded Steve and Mark Waugh for the triangular series.

The team, to be captained by Ricky Ponting, is due to fly to Kenya in late August.

An editorial in Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper on Thursday called on the ACB to abandon the tour of Pakistan.

"The players and their families deserve an immediate decision from the board," the newspaper said.

"Canberra (the home of Australia's Federal Government) has advised all Australians there to leave.

"It will be sad for both countries when the tour is abandoned.

"But as the ACB has noted, our team's safety comes first."

Mail Cricket Editor