The International Cricket Council's (ICC) executive board will decide this week whether or not to shift September's Champions Trophy out of Pakistan because of security issues, the governing body said on Sunday.
The decision was taken after concerns raised at an ICC security briefing in Dubai for representatives of the eight participating teams, the international players' association FICA and official broadcasters ESPN STAR Sport.
"While there was recognition the PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) had gone to great lengths to provide a high level of security during the Asia Cup and would do so again during the ICC Champions Trophy, concerns were expressed about the potential for threats beyond the PCB's control," the ICC said in a statement.
"These concerns will now be taken to the ICC Board during the course of this week with the Board then arriving at a definitive decision on the location of this year's Champions Trophy.
"Until or unless the Board decides otherwise, the tournament will proceed in Pakistan." The tournament is scheduled from September 11-28. Haroon Lorgat, CEO of the ICC, said he was confident a good decision would be taken.
"It is a difficult one in that you can never be kind of satisfied with compromise on safety and security issues," Lorgat told Reuters by telephone from Dubai after the briefing. "It is not something that we can treat lightly," he said. "We are confident we can work this one through.
"We'll go through a very thorough process when we finally decide because we have done a thorough homework," said Lorgat. Sunday's briefing was provided by the ICC's security consultants, who had studied arrangements made for the Asia Cup which ended this month, with the PCB also outlining its security plans.
England, Australia and New Zealand have voiced concerns after bomb attacks in Pakistan over the past several months. Lorgat said no team had threatened to pull out or demanded a venue switch at the security briefing.
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