No SA & NZ players for IPL if insufficient security

South African and New Zealand cricketers will not be allowed for travelling to the sub-continent for the Indian Premier League if security assurances are insufficient.

Robert Nicholls, the director of Nicholls which controls player security during the IPL said "We are in daily contact with the Indian authorities and even though we are not in charge of stadium safety, we do look after the protection of the players," He added "If we feel that it does not comply with the standards, we will not allow the players to play there."

Nicholls said the attacks on the Sri Lankan side in Lahore last week had been "a wake-up call for everyone."

Nicholls said one of the "biggest headaches" was the national elections taking place at the same time as the IPL, as there may not be enough security personnel to handle both events simultaneously. He added "Until recently, cooperation with Indian authorities was practically non-existent, but hopefully this will now change."

"The problem with the law enforcers on the subcontinent and especially in India is that as soon as you ask them to heighten security measures, they just make more police officers available.”Eventually you can have 60,000 officers, but it will help very little against a suicide bomber."

Graeme Smith the captain of South African cricket team said that no "hasty decisions" would be taken. "We will rely heavily on the advice of Cricket South Africa and the safety consultants, but it is understandable that the guys do not want to return to the continent.

"There is an important tour to India for us next year and the IPL is just around the corner. Although there are serious objections to playing in places where you often risk your life, we must first wait to have all the information (before deciding),"Smith concluded.

"I know of no player who is still seriously considering participation in the IPL. It’s not just Pakistan where you are constantly a target, but in many sub continental countries – just look at what happened in Mumbai (in November last year)."

Vaughan said "We cannot unreasonably prevent players from participating in other competitions but if we could see there was a direct security risk that would not be unreasonable grounds."

Vettori (Delhi Daredevils), Brendon McCullum (Kolkata Knight Riders), Oram (Chennai Super Kings), Kyle Mills (Mumbai Indians), Scott Styris (Deccan Chargers), Ross Taylor and Jesse Ryder (Bangalore Royal Challengers) are due to join their franchises after the India tour.

Vaughan said the board would be seeking security advice before giving the green light to the players to take part in the IPL in the wake of the terror attack on Sri Lanka players in Lahore on Tuesday and last year’s Mumbai massacre.

Heath Mills the New Zealand Cricket Players’ Association chief said "We will not be relying on any security advice that is not independent and comprehensive. It is not good enough to just simply take the assurances from the BCCI or IPL at face value or any assurance they might give Justin,”

"When it comes to security the BCCI and IPL can no longer suggest they are not going to work with player associations. The international players have every right to have their representatives assess the security around this event as we do in all other situations," said Mills.