By IANS
Dubai : A women’s 2009 World Cup qualifying tournament has become a casualty of former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination as the Lahore event was Tuesday shifted to South Africa.
The tournament, which was originally to be played in November last and then rescheduled to Feb 18-24, will now be played in Stellenbosch district of the Western Cape on the same dates, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced here.
“The tournament had originally been arranged to take place in Lahore last November but was postponed for security reasons until after the proposed election date of Jan 8. But with the rescheduling of that vote for Feb 18, the decision was made to move the event to South Africa,” ICC said.
“The decision was arrived at following independent security reports and extensive discussions by ICC management and the ICC Women’s Committee.”
Bhutto was assassinated after a public rally in Rawalpindi Dec 27.
The tournament involves eight countries – Bermuda, Ireland, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, South Africa and Zimbabwe – with the top two sides going forward to the World Cup in Australia in 2009.
“It is unfortunate that the timing of the event ended up clashing with the elections and forcing us to change the venue,” said ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed.
“The safety of all participants is our number one priority and on the basis of the independent advice we have received – as well as the material concerns expressed by many of the participating countries – we concluded it was not appropriate to stage the tournament at this time.”
The event will be staged in conjunction with Cricket South Africa and the Boland Cricket Union.