Ejaz Butt confident Pakistan will host tours again by end of year

Ejaz Butt confident Pakistan will host tours again by end of year
Pakistan's Cricket Board chairman has adopted a defiant stance against the widespread assumption, after the Lahore terror attacks, that there will be no international cricket in his country for the foreseeable future.

By Huw Turbervill Last Updated: 9:23PM GMT 08 Mar 2009

Defiant: Ejaz Butt says Pakistan can still have Test future at home Photo: EPA
Pakistan's Cricket Board chairman has adopted a defiant stance against the widespread assumption, after the Lahore terror attacks, that there will be no international cricket in his country for the foreseeable future. Ejaz Butt insists they are expecting to host another international team in the next six to nine months, and will still co-host the 2011 World Cup.
Seven people were killed and six members of the Sri Lankan squad injured last week, but Butt, in what seems to be a optimistically upbeat assessment, said: "I'd expect teams will tour here again as soon as possible. I'd give it six to nine months to get things organised.

"I'd want us to get security to a level that would be a guarantee from my government that no such incident like this could happen again, or I will not invite anybody.
"Once I have this assurance I may then invite people to come here. But this can happen anywhere. I cannot give that guarantee, but my government can. If they cannot then we'll not have cricket in Pakistan at all. I definitely think that we'll stage part of the World Cup in 2011." Butt also said he disagreed with match referee Chris Broad, the former England batsman, who said there had not been enough security to protect players and officials. Broad was travelling in the officials' bus behind the Sri Lanka team.

"I totally disagree with Chris Broad, he is overdoing it," said Butt. "And it is wrong if they [the International Cricket Council] are siding with one man's opinion. I have told them that this opinion is totally wrong." The problem of ensuring the safety of cricketers is not just confined to the subcontinent, however, according to Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, who said yesterday that nowhere is safe.

"I think anywhere in the world is a target, it's a question of degree and we will do assessments of all our venues," he said. "I don't think any particular country is spared.