Australia to send security experts to Pakistan

Cricket Australia has said it is too early to consider the status of the tour of Pakistan which is due to take place next February and March.

Although the state of emergency in Pakistan is still in place, what is of more concern is that elections are due to take place in January or February and those might coincide with an escalation in violence in the country.

The board will send representatives, including a security expert, to assess the situation in February and will then decide whether the three-Test five-ODI tour can go ahead.

Australia last played a Test series in Pakistan in 1998-99. A proposed tour four years later was cancelled on safety grounds and was subsequently played at a neutral venue in Sharjah.