Steve Waugh, Mcgrath and Warne Say No to Pakistan Tour

The crisis in Pakistan cricket deepened today when three more of Australia's top Test players, including captain Steve Waugh, said they would not visit the country, even if their board decides to proceed with a tour which is planned for late August.

Waugh, fast bowler Glenn McGrath, and leg-spinner Shane Warne are in Monte Carlo along with the new one-day captain, Ricky Ponting, to represent Australia, who have been nominated as the World Team of the Year at the Laureua World Sports Awards.

And the trio all said they would not tour Pakistan after the bomb in Karachi which killed 14 people and forced New Zealand to fly home on the morning of the second Test last week.

Last weekend, vice-captain and wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist said on TV that he was not prepared to go to Pakistan. The Australian team is falling apart even before they go - if they go at all, that is.

The Australian Cricket Board (ACB) have kept their options on the matter open, particularly because the tour is still three months away.

But Warne, 32, is not prepared to wait before making up his mind. The leg-spinner, one of Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Century and taker of 450 wickets in 101 Tests, said: "If it is on in Pakistan I don't think I would be going - for obvious reasons: there's a war going on there.

"There was a bombing involving New Zealand. If it was tomorrow and we were going, I wouldn't be going - no way.

"I don't think anyone would hold it against people if they decided not to go to Pakistan. It is a big decision, especially when you've got kids involved.

"I've got three kids and there is a lot more at stake when you've got a family. It's a pretty hostile place at the moment."

All the Australians indicated they were happy that the ACB would make the correct decision when the time came as they had already pulled out of the tour of Zimbabwe after Christmas and in 1996 forfeited a World Cup match in Colombo because of Sri Lanka's ongoing civil war against the Tamil Tigers.

Fast bowler McGrath, who has taken 389 wickets in 89 Tests, has already agreed with his wife that he would not go to Pakistan, which would mean Australia would be without their two main strike bowlers if the tour did go ahead.

He said: "At the end of the day, we play cricket and we love what we do. But to put your life on the line for a sport is not what it is all about."

Waugh admitted it was a weighty dilemma but added that he had faith in the ACB. He said: "Nobody should be forced to go if they felt at risk. It is pretty hard - you look at it from both sides.

"On one side you go for the good of cricket and not giving in to terrorism. On the other side you know it may be dangerous and you are putting yourself at risk.

"You want to go out there and play cricket, but if you're in danger you've got to consider what the options are. They've got to send players over there who want to go.

"If the players don't want to go there is not much point in sending a team."