Pakistan Cricket Board Chair Shaharyar Khan said that Pakistan is open to playing next month's World Twenty20 matches "at a neutral venue if the government does not clear their tour of India over security concerns," according to Sudipto Ganguly of REUTERS. Pakistan's participation in the March 8-April 3 tournament across the border "depends on government clearance as there are specific threats" and Khan said that it has already been communicated to the Int'l Cricket Council. Khan: "We have told the ICC the decision is with the government and it's not just us who have to decide. We need to understand that there are specific Pakistan-oriented security threats and we are concerned, hence (we) involved the government." The ICC and the Board of Control for Cricket in India "could not be immediately reached for comment" (REUTERS, 2/10).
WEST INDIES PAY DISPUTE: In Melbourne, Adam Pengilly reported the West Indies "has been plunged into another contract crisis only a few weeks out" from the Twenty20 World Cup with skipper Darren Sammy penning a letter to the board of the "cash-strapped cricketing basket case" asking for an "urgent review of the squad's salary for the tournament." The '12 champion is "on the brink of another major dispute with their administration" after Sammy "slammed the financial terms on offer for the 15-man squad." He said while "not being privy" to the "exact sweetener" the West Indies Cricket Board would receive for the tournament, he understood $8M would be paid to the board with 25% -- or $133,000 per player -- to be distributed to the squad. But Sammy said that "under the terms offered by the board" the squad would receive just $414,000 in total. His argument was "quickly quashed" by WICB CEO Michael Muirhead, who said that Sammy's figures were "totally incorrect" and the ICC had "tinkered with its policy of distributing funds to member nations" (THE AGE, 2/10).
