D-day for Sri Lanka

Cricket

THE Australian Sports Minister, John Faulkner, yesterday urged World Cup organisers to consider switching Australia's first match of the competition from Sri Lanka. The players are considering pulling out of the 17 February game in Colombo following the bombing that killed at least 76 people there last week.

The World Cup organisers, meanwhile, said that they would follow the advice of the Sri Lankan cricket authorities on whether to go ahead with the matches scheduled to be played in the country. "We have asked the Sri Lankan cricket board for their assessment, since they are in the best position to comment on it," said Jagmohan Dalmiya, secretary of the Pakistan- India- Lanka Committee [Pilcom].

Ana Punchihewa, president of the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL), has passed on to Pilcom assurances of security from the Sri Lankan president, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. The BCCSL president added that no sports event had ever been a target for attacks. Australia's options are: to go ahead with the first match in Colombo; to seek a change of venue; or to forfeit the game. The playing conditions of the competition do not cover penalties for forfeiting a match.

Meanwhile Harilal Shah, the manager of Kenya, who are also due to play in Sri Lanka, said on arrival in Bombay yesterday: "We will assess the situation over the next few days before arriving at a decision on going to play our last group tie in Kandy."