Terrorism will not derail cricket World Cup, says ICC chief Haroon Lorgat

Haroon Lorgat, chief executive of the International Cricket Council, has said the major cricket nations will work in unison to ensure next year's World Cup does not fall victim to growing terrorist threats as India increasingly becomes the focus of safety concerns. Fears that Indian cricket, responsible for 75% of the game's global revenue, could be severely disrupted by terrorism have heightened after the leaking of a security report that advises players they should seriously consider withdrawing from the Indian Premier League because of a credible terrorism threat by al-Qaida. The report, drawn up by the England team's security advisor, Reg Dickason, has been commissioned by players' associations in England, Australia and South Africa. It will further antagonise relationships between Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, and Tim May, chief executive of FICA, the international players' association, which Modi repeatedly refuses to recognise. If Modi continues to deny FICA full access to security discussions then player withdrawals look inevitable. Any major disruption to the IPL would automatically put the survival of next year's World Cup in doubt, with India, co-hosts with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, staging the majority of games. Pakistan has already been removed as a host because of terrorism, and its team are cricketing itinerants, playing matches in adopted homes in the Emirates and England. For India to go the same way would leave international cricket in crisis. But Lorgat, whose term as chief executive has been dogged by security issues, said: "The World Cup is the big piece of work that we have to deliver – and we intend to do so. The whole issue of security is dynamic, but we will assess it very carefully and implement whatever measures are necessary to ensure safety and security. I do not share the same concerns for India as Pakistan." Lorgat is confident that the ICC's willingness to work in partnership by setting up security officers in each member nation will maintain unanimity in the build-up to the World Cup, unlike Modi's less democratic approach. "We have established a quality network of security managers at each of the full member boards and through that we can develop a far better co-ordinated approach to safety and security." Eight English players are due to compete in the IPL. Paul Collingwood and Kevin Pietersen are scheduled to join the tournament after England's tour of Bangladesh, while Eoin Morgan, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Michael Lumb, Graham Napier, Owais Shah and Ravi Bopara are expected to be available for the start of the tournament on 12 March. Although Australia's cricketers are regarded as most likely to withdraw from the IPL – they have also received threats from Shiv Sena, an Indian right-wing nationalist party – Lorgat has taken heart from comments by the Australian foreign minister Stephen Smith, who last week confirmed that he was happy with India's arrangements for the Commonwealth Games. "It is a regrettable fact of the modern era that there are always security risks in major sporting events,'' he said, "but I'm satisfied that all the necessary co-ordination and consultation continues to occur," he said.