Bomb blast in Pakistan

Pakistan's cricketers have described their narrow escape after a bomb blast near their Karachi hotel killed 11 people.

The blast shattered hotel windows as the team prepared for the second Test against New Zealand. And the touring team decided to fly home immediately.

Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi said: "I am lucky that I was not in my room and was having breakfast - my room is totally destroyed.

"When I heard the sound I rushed to the site of the bomb and saw many bodies lying there."

Pakistan's express bowler Shoaib Akhtar was trapped in his room in the Pearl Continental hotel after the nearby blast, but survived unscathed.

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International Cricket Council (ICC) president Malcolm Gray has described the cancelling of New Zealand's tour as another blow for cricket in Pakistan.

Twelve people were killed and 34 injured by the blast, which occurred near the teams' hotel just three hours before the scheduled start of the second Test.

"At the moment everything's up in the air, as it has been since 11 September," Gray said.

"We're constantly working with Pakistan to restore normality but this is another blow, and in addition there is the political problem with India that stops them going there."

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New Zealand have cancelled the rest of their cricket tour of Pakistan following a suicide bomb attack outside the teams' hotel in Karachi.

The blast occurred just three hours before the second Test was due to get under way on Wednesday.

Eleven people, including nine French workers, travelling on a bus on the road outside the hotel, were killed in the explosion.

New Zealand broadcaster Bryan Waddle was in the same hotel as both teams. "I felt the windows in my hotel room shudder," he said.

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The chances of the Australian Cricket Board cancelling a second consecutive tour have increased markedly after a bomb killed 10 people outside the New Zealand team's hotel in Karachi today.

None of the Kiwi tour party was injured but New Zealand Cricket has reacted quickly in calling off the tour and summoning its players home from Pakistan.

Australia is scheduled to tour Pakistan in September and the ACB has been monitoring the New Zealand tour as it assesses the possible risk and decides whether to proceed.

Six weeks ago, the ACB cancelled the Australian team's tour to Zimbabwe after deciding the risk was too great following political unrest in that country.

Sri Lanka in England

Darren Gough has virtually ruled himself out of England's first Test against Sri Lanka at Lord's on 16 May.

It means that both teams look likely to be missing their best bowlers, with Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan struggling with a shoulder injury.

Gough has a knee problem and has not played any cricket since the end of the one-day series in New Zealand in February.

The Yorkshireman told BBC Radio: "It's unrealistic to say I will be [at Lord's].

Miscellaneous

Pakistan cricket team captain Waqar Younis believes his side will be recognised as the world's best by the end of this year.

Younis said on Tuesday he believed his squad was now good enough to beat the current top dogs in world cricket, Australia and South Africa.

"We would like to wrap up the series and prove that we are the best team in the world after our home series against Australia in October this year and then a series in South Africa," Younis told reporters

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Plans to screen Bollywood films at Test matches are being considered in an attempt to keep cricket in the public eye during a summer likely to be dominated by football's World Cup finals. The ECB has acknowledged the difficulty of promoting cricket against the competition from Japan and South Korea and is determined to avoid the Test series against India and Sri Lanka being played before low crowds.

Discussions are under way with the British Film Institute (BFI) to show Indian films on the replay screens after play at some of the grounds as a tie-in with a BFI celebration of Bollywood called Imaginasia. Another idea being mooted by the ECB is to erect extra screens in car parks at the venues with dialogue transmitted via shortwave radio.

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