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Australia 'happy' with security for tour of Sri Lanka

Australian cricket officials on Thursday said they were satisfied with security for their coming tour of Sri Lanka next month.

"We have spoken with the security officials and they have assured us that everything is alright and I am very happy about it," Richard Watson, operations general manager of the Australian Cricket Board (ACB), told a news conference.

Watson was one of three ACB officials who arrived in Sri Lanka last Sunday to discuss conditions ahead of Australia's tour starting on August 22.

At the 1996 World Cup, Australia and West Indies forfeited their matches against Sri Lanka in Colombo, citing security fears after a bomb blast in the capital by Tamil Tiger rebels fighting for a separate homeland in the country's north and east.

Australia's tour includes games in Colombo, the southern town of Galle and also in the hill capital of Kandy, where rebel suicide bombers blasted Sri Lanka's holiest Buddhist shrine, killing 16 people in January last year.

"I can assure you that the selectors will send the best Australian team to Sri Lanka," Watson said, adding that no player has so far made himself unavailable.

During the recent World Cup in England, Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne was fined and given a suspended two-match ban for scathing comments in his British newspaper column about Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga.

Watson said whether Warne would be part of the tour depended on the decision he took about his international future, which he is currently considering.

"If he decides to continue, he has also made statements that he will be available for Sri Lanka," Watson added.

"As world (one-day) champions we have a lot to live up to. We are very competitive, we want to win," said team manager Steve Bernard, one of the three visiting officials.

Australia open their tour with a triangular limited-overs tournament also involving the host country and India. The rest of the itinerary includes a three-Test series against Sri Lanka.

Reuters