Australian pull-out puts Champions Trophy in further doubt
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The World Champions will not take part in next month's tournament. (Getty Images: Corey Davis, file photo)
The International Cricket Council (ICC) will meet tonight to decide the fate of the Champions Trophy tournament, due to start in Pakistan in three weeks, after Australia's players confirmed they would not play in Pakistan.
The decision by Australia's players followed discussions with an ICC taskforce which failed to convince them it was safe.
Cricket Australia's Peter Young says it is still possible the tournament could be moved to another country.
"That's an issue for the ICC," Mr Young said.
"There has been speculation that the tournament might be rescheduled and we understand in a technical sense that while it would be very, very difficult to do that, it would still be possible.
"That's one of the issues that we'd be interested to hear their views on after they have their meeting today."
The head of the Australian Cricketers Association, Paul Marsh, says touring Pakistan is simply too dangerous at the moment.
"We've got a great deal of sympathy for the Pakistan Cricket Board and the people over there but it is our job to advise our players over issues of safety," he said.
"We just don't believe it's acceptably safe for them to be going to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy, which is really disappointing because the players really want to play in the event, but it's just not safe from our perspective to be there at the moment."
Australia's decision comes after the New Zealand players' association decided on Sunday to recommend its players also pull out of the tournament.
