Black Caps call off Pakistan tour

March 4, 2009

New Zealand Cricket has cancelled the Black Caps' tour to Pakistan later this year following yesterday's terror attacks on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore.

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) Chief Executive Justin Vaughan confirmed on Radio New Zealand this morning that the Black Caps will not tour Pakistan in December and said it was unlikely any international team will play there in the foreseeable future.

Vaughan stated "the tour has been called off ... we are not going, I think that's pretty clear."

Vaughan said he planned to raise the possibility of playing Pakistan at a neutral venue, stating "we will meet with Pakistan authorities ... and then talk about what the options are. I think the options would probably revolve around playing at a neutral venue - they have played previous games in the Gulf States, in Abu Dhabi, and we'd want to assess Pakistan's thinking about that."

Earlier, Vaughan told New Zealand's Radio Sport it was too early to talk about re-allocating the 2011 World Cup which is to be jointly hosted by Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

"You can't say cricket won't take place in Asia - it would kill the game because four of the eight countries we play serious cricket against are based out of there.

"You can't just say it's a no-go zone - I think we need to think pretty carefully. Player security is something we won't compromise on, but in terms of how and when events are scheduled in that region, I guess we got to think pretty long and hard.

"It's too early to talk about re-allocating Cricket World Cup 2011."

Masked gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team's bus in Lahore, killing at least eight people and wounding seven team members.

The players were on their way to play the third day of the second test against Pakistan.

Australian head coach Trevor Bayliss was not wounded, Sri Lanka's Foreign Ministry said. Earlier reports said he had minor wounds.

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