ISLAMABAD // Pakistan may not host the Champions Trophy tournament next year due to security concerns, a top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board said yesterday. "Everybody knows about the present security situation in Pakistan," the PCB chairman Ijaz Butt said. "We have to look for alternatives if the security situation does not improve." The International Cricket Council decided in August to postpone the limited-overs tournament for a year.
It was originally scheduled to take place in Pakistan in September this year but leading cricket nations - including Australia, South Africa and England - expressed security concerns. Pakistan's new president, Asif Ali Zardari - who is also the patron of the board - appointed Butt, 70, for a three-year term on Tuesday. Hundreds of people have died in the recent spate of suicide bombings in Pakistan, including 53 at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad last month.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan middle-order batsman Mohammed Yousuf will miss a Twenty20 tournament in Canada because of a delay in receiving a required visa. Canada will host the competition from Oct 10-13 and also features Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. "We have not yet received his passport from the Canadian High Commission," a Pakistan Cricket Board official said. "Since the team has to leave on Wednesday, we can't wait."
He added: "Yousuf would have made it to the final 15-member squad had we got his passport back." Fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar will return to the Pakistan side after the PCB dropped its opposition to him not paying an outstanding fine. * Agencies
