England will consider pulling out of the ICC Champions Trophy after world cricket’s governing body risked the credibility of the event by deciding to keep it in Pakistan. Australia and New Zealand are also assessing their positions in the light of security fears in the venue cities of Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi.

Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman, told a tele-conference of ICC board members yesterday that England would be unlikely to send anything approaching their strongest team and that concerns of stakeholders and security experts over safety demand that the tournament be moved elsewhere. His argument carried little sway and Sean Morris, the chief executive of the Professional Cricketers’ Association, will talk to David Collier, the ECB chief executive, and leading England players to work out the next step. “We have our concerns and need to talk to players to confirm their feelings,” Morris said.

The ECB must decide whether to withdraw the team or allow players to pull out individually. An ECB spokesman said: “We will hold further extensive and urgent discussions with stakeholders, including the players, to determine our position going forward. We will then make a clear and positive decision.”

Australia suspended their tour to Pakistan in March after a report from Reg Dickason, who has also been employed by the ECB for security work abroad. The Australian Cricketers’ Association has said that it will not recommended travelling, while concern also exists in the New Zealand team.

The absence of three of the eight teams, or even if they are seriously depleted, would undermine an event once described as the mini-World Cup, not least to broadcasters. Foreign Office advice to British travellers, updated after bombings in Karachi on July 7, may be strong enough for the ECB to cite force majeure to avoid possible sanctions.

The Foreign Office website describes a “heightened threat to Westerners” in the three cities and says: “There is a high threat from terrorism and sectarian violence throughout Pakistan. Since January 2007 there has been a series of attacks and suicide bombings predominantly against the local authorities but also at locations frequented by expatriates and foreign travellers.”

- Tillekeratne Dilshan, the Sri Lanka batsman, became the first Test cricketer to be reprieved under the player-referral system that is under trial during Sri Lanka’s Test series with India. On the second day of the first Test in Colombo, Dilshan was given out caught behind off Zaheer Khan, but queried the decision of Mark Benson. The third umpire, Rudi Koertzen, judged that there was enough doubt about whether the ball hit the bat for the decision to be reversed. India had failed with a challenge against an earlier decision by Benson, who had ruled that Malinda Warnapura was not leg-before to Harbhajan Singh. Sri Lanka have reached 422 for four.

- Matthew Hoggard has conceded that his England career may be over after his omission last week from the squad that lost the second npower Test to South Africa. The Yorkshire fast-medium bowler added that he was surprised by the selection of Darren Pattinson. “At the moment I think my international career is over,” Hoggard, 31, said. “I thought [Pattinson] was a Kolpak player.”

Simon Jones, the Worcestershire fast bowler, was also displeased by the make-up of the squad. “They obviously chose him [Pattinson] because they thought he was the right man for the job but I’m sure a few bowlers around England were disappointed,” he said.