Australia remain cool on Champions Trophy

Less than a month away from the Champions Trophy, Australian cricket bosses remain uncertain about whether the titleholders will play in the one-day tournament in Pakistan.

The Champions Trophy is scheduled for September 12-28, but Cricket Australia (CA) continues to have concerns over player safety in the troubled country, despite a meeting with International Cricket Council (ICC) officials here on Friday.

The ICC delegation met with CA in Melbourne, with Australian captain Ricky Ponting, deputy Michael Clarke and players' union boss Paul Marsh also present, to outline security measures for the tournament.

CA chief executive James Sutherland said a number of issues were raised with the ICC and those needed to be addressed before a final decision was made.

"It's coming down to crunch time," Sutherland said here Friday.

"The ICC taskforce needs to report back to the ICC, they need to take on the advice that they're picking up, not only from feedback they're getting from Australia, but also from New Zealand and England and South Africa and other parts of the world."

The ICC met with New Zealand representatives on Thursday to discuss the Champions Trophy, with nervous Kiwi players expressing grave reservations about the tournament, and is also set to meet South African and English officials.

ICC general manager Dave Richardson told Friday's meeting that their advice was that the event would be safe.

Richardson said shifting the tournament to Sri Lanka was an option if leading teams refused to play in Pakistan.

"We're very short of time now, if we're going to relocate (that decision) needs to be made in the next few days, so time is of the essence," Richardson added.

Ponting said Australia's title defence was suffering from the uncertainty.

On Thursday, Australian seamer Stuart Clark admitted he was feeling increasingly uncomfortable about playing in Pakistan.

Australia controversially postponed a full tour of Pakistan earlier this year due to the security situation.

Pakistan is fighting Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants in its northwestern tribal regions bordering Afghanistan and a string of deadly suicide bomb attacks over the past year have killed more than 1000 people.

This week there were warnings of further suicide attacks in Lahore and Karachi, the cities that will host the Champions Trophy matches.