Australia and South Africa say no to Pakistan Super League

Pakistan Super League has suffered a setback after Cricket Australia (CA) and Cricket South Africa (CSA) decided not to issue NOCs to their contracted players for the twenty20 tournament scheduled to be held in Lahore from March 26. Geo News channel reported that Cricket Australia had made it clear with reference to a query that they wouldn't be sending their contracted players to Pakistan because of the security situation. "Due to the ongoing security concerns in Pakistan, Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers' Association would not be supportive of any international or state contracted player participating in the Pakistan Super League," a spokesman of Cricket Australia told the channel. Australia is the only team not to have toured Pakistan since 1998 because of security situation. They last toured Pakistan when Mark Taylor was captain for a full series but in 2002 they backed out of a tour to Pakistan expressing security concerns because of the 9/11 incident. Australia has subsequently compelled the Pakistan board to play its "home" series against the Aussies at neutral venues. To make matters worse, a cricket website, Pakpassion.com also reported that it had received a statement from Cricket South Africa that it would not issue NOC's to its players for the PSL. The statement said that the security assessments did not provide the required level of comfort. "The independent security reports will at this stage not allow CSA to provide a NOC for any player. CSA's current agreement with SACA, our cricketers association, is that we will not send players to the PSL based on the security reports," said. The PCB already aware of the problems it will face in convincing other boards to send their players for the PSL has even offered a life insurance worth USD 2 million for players coming to Pakistan and tax free incomes from the league. Few days back the International Federation of Cricketers, FICA had also advised its member players to stay away from the PSL. An official of the board when asked about the development said so far they had received nothing from any board about not sending their players for the PSL. "We are making strong efforts to convince boards that it is safe to play in Pakistan. Haroon Lorgat is also working in this area. Hopefully we will see positive results soon. For the moment we can't comment on this situation," he said.