Australian Cricket Team Undeterred By New Delhi Bomb Blast

Cricket Australia is waiting on a security report and was scheduled to hold meetings with the country's players association. But Peter Young, Cricket Australia's general manager of public affairs, said later Monday that the team planned to leave as scheduled, pending the security assessment.

"Our position is that the tour is going ahead unless we are otherwise persuaded," Young was quoted saying on the Cricinfo website. "Our advice is there are some concerns and to exercise caution, but currently they do not compromise the tour. Our plan is to depart on Sept. 21 subject to our advice."

Australia's decision to tour India will undoubtedly evoke a sharp reaction, across the border in Pakistan, where officials have been watching the unfolding situation with curiosity. “We remain sure that India will make the right kind of security arrangements and that Australia will tour them. And once this tour is done with, we can hope Australia do not come up with any pretext about not touring us next year,” Shafqat Naghmi, chief operating officer of the Pakistan Cricket Board, had said. The Australian government's travel advisory for Pakistan still maintains that it is a dangerous place to travel to. In the case of India, the Australian government urges its citizens to exercise a “high degree of caution.”

The Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA), however, has already made it clear that the Indian and Pakistani situations are separate, and should not be clubbed together. “People need to understand that our starting point is that we always wants to tour. We go to extreme lengths to obtain the best advice on the situation of each country we visit,” said Paul Marsh, the ACA chief. “In Pakistan's case this year, people we rely on told us not to tour. If they say not to tour again, we'll listen. Bombs going off anywhere are a concern.”