Australian govt assures cricketers of IPL security

Chances of Australian cricketers participating in the Indian Premier League (IPL) have improved after the government Down Under assured them that terror threats to the Twenty20 event are “not credible”.

According to a report in The Age, the players received “a measure of reassurance” during a briefing from a senior government official at their New Zealand hotel on Saturday.

Australia are currently on a tour of New Zealand and a senior representative from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) flew down to Christchurch to tell them that a recent threat from the al-Qaeda-linked 313 brigade was “not credible”.

“Retired stars contracted with IPL such as Shane Warne, Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden, will be given the same information in a telephone hook-up tomorrow,” the report stated.

Australian Cricketers’ Association chief Paul Marsh said he hoped to get specific security assurances from the IPL nonetheless.

“Reg is comfortable that the (al-Qaeda) threat is not credible but we still haven’t received a commitment that the security plans will be implemented as laid out,” Marsh said last night.