Australia may not be able to take a full-strength squad to the historic tour of Pakistan in March, if the cricket series goes ahead at all.
That’s if you read between the lines of what Test captain Tim Paine told SEN radio. He concedes some players may not feel comfortable travelling to the south Asian country where no Aussie team has played in 24 years.
Cricket fans rejoiced on Monday night when Cricket Australia announced the “prospect” of going to Pakistan to play three Tests, three ODIs, and one T20I in March and April.
But it now seems the tour isn’t set in stone, and a delegate from CA and the players’ association will travel to Pakistan in between now and then to determine if it’s actually feasible.
New Zealand and England have recently withdrawn from playing matches in Pakistan citing security concerns.
In September, the Black Caps abandoned their tour at the same time the first ball of an ODI was supposed to be bowled. That prompted England to cancel its tour shortly after, infuriating Pakistan officials.
“There’ll be some guys who will be happy to take the experts’ advice and others will want to know a bit more,” Paine said on SEN.
“If we’re totally honest, there might be some people who aren’t comfortable going regardless (of the advice).
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“That’s happened before with tours going to other countries going back forever. Again there are issues that will I’m sure pop up.
“We’ll discuss it, people get the right answers and feel comfortable, then we’ll get hopefully the best team we can. At the end of the day, it comes down to the individual.”
Australia has not played an overseas Test match since the 2019 Ashes in England.
They haven’t played in Pakistan since Mark Taylor captained the tour in 1998.
Paine, though, is confident due diligence will be completed and all security concerns addressed before any players are asked to make the trip.
He travelled to Pakistan in 2017 as part of a World XI side which played exhibition games.
“It won’t be done in a reckless manner just because we have to put the game first,” he said.
“There’ll be a number of things that will be ticked off from a security point of view to make sure the players are going are totally comfortable with it.
“Once that’s done, absolutely it becomes – we want to be part of growing the game and getting it to countries like Pakistan again and playing our part.”