Tour opener may be moved

The opening match of England's forthcoming tour to Pakistan could be switched from Rawalpindi to Lahore, following the devastating earthquake that struck in the north of the country on Saturday.

In the aftermath of the disaster, which has so far claimed upwards of 30,000 lives, the neighbouring city of Islamabad has been made a centre for the relief efforts, and there is the possibility that hotel rooms allocated to the cricket teams and entourage may be needed to house the homeless or provide a base for aid workers.

Richard Bevan, the chief executive of the Professional Cricketers' Association, was confident that the tour would go ahead as planned, but would wait for an update from security officials. "The situation ... is very much monitored and managed by the security firm appointed by the ECB and the PCA," Bevan told Sportinglife. "So in terms of what happened at the weekend, our security people have already written to us advising us that they are monitoring and liaising with the relevant authorities in Pakistan.

"I would imagine [the earthquake] is probably not going to have an effect on the tour," he added. "It may have some impact on the logistics, but again we won't know what our advice is on that for a few days. It may be something that can assist in the feelgood factor and helping Pakistan get back to normality."

Bevan added that he had spoken to the players, all of whom were happy about the procedures being put in place, while according to the Pakistan Cricket Board, the Rawalpindi stadium had suffered no structural damage during the tremors.