England will not play a Test match in the southern Pakistan port city of Karachi during their forthcoming tour, Pakistan cricket authorities said on Tuesday.
"England are not willing to play a Test in Karachi because of security concerns for their players," Pakistan Cricket Board director of cricket operations Saleem Altaf told Reuters after meeting England and Wales Cricket Board officials.
Altaf met ECB director of operations John Carr and a representative of the English players association, Richard Bevan, in the city of Lahore.
The meeting followed a week-long inspection visit by ECB security experts Douglas Dick and Andy Allman who went to all the proposed match venues, including Karachi. They also met senior police and Interior Ministry officials.
England are due to tour Pakistan from late October, playing three Tests and five One-Day Internationals.
Karachi has long been a volatile city and seen a spate of militant violence since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
Altaf said he had proposed two back-to-back One-Day Internationals in Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city, instead of a Test.
"We are keen to have at least a one-dayer in Karachi which is our main cricket centre. But they want to keep their team's stay to a minimum in the city," he said.
Altaf said ECB officials had been given a list of proposed venues and a proposed match schedule and that they would get back to the PCB soon.
Pakistani cricket officials had proposed Tests in the cities of Multan, Faisalabad and Lahore, with two One-Day Internationals in Lahore, two in Karachi and one in Rawalpindi.
Karachi has been shunned as a Test venue by most touring sides in recent years.
Australia, the West Indies, South Africa and India have all refused to play Tests there since 2001 but Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have appeared in the city.
New Zealand were due to play a Test in Karachi in May 2002 but a suicide bomb blast outside their hotel killed 14 people including 11 French naval technicians.
The New Zealand team went home without playing the Test.
