Cricket Australia cancels Sharjah tour to concentrate on ICC Champions Trophy

Cricket Australia has declined an invitation to visit Sharjah for a proposed three week tournament of one-day international (ODI) matches from late March.

Chief Executive Officer, James Sutherland said Cricket Australia had for some time been considering a Sharjah tour straight after the imminent Travelex ODI and Test match series which starts in Sri Lanka next month.

However, Cricket Australia has decided it would prefer to not visit Sharjah early in the year and to instead plan a possible warm-up series in Europe or the UK in the lead up to the International Cricket Council (ICC) Champions Trophy one-day series in England in September.

Players, the Australian Cricketers Association and the Sharjah tournament planners were formally advised this week.

"Sharjah continues to be part of our long-term planning. But on balance, our international playing plans for 2004 are better suited planning a warm-up series after the scheduled player leave period in July-August to fine tune our form and fitness before September's ICC Champions Trophy and the subsequent Travelex Test series in India for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy," he said.

"The ICC Champions Trophy has become a prestigious and permanent part of international cricket and we are keen to improve on our previous performances in this event. We have never won the Championship and it and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy are two of the few global trophies we don't have in our trophy cabinet".

Planning for a tri-nation series involving Australia, India and Pakistan prior to the Champions Trophy is still to be finalised but is far enough advanced to make this decision, he said.