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The cancellation of Australia's tour of Pakistan could have been foretold, much before the terrorists struck in Murree and Taxila. Once the principle of neutral venues had been accepted, the tour was off.

After all, it was the Australians who had refused to play in Sri Lanka in the 1996 World Cup and they had taken the West Indies along with them.

In many respects, the Australians are like the Americans, they feel safe among their own. I cannot, in all conscience, say that their concerns for their players were unfounded.

Of course, the terrorists can strike and, on the face of it, Pakistan seems to have become a high-risk country and that's the view that one would get from the Diplomatic Enclave in Islamabad. But from the measures that the United States is adopting in the name of Homeland Security, the United States too would be a high-risk country. But international sports events are not being cancelled and the US Open tennis tournament is due to get underway in New York in a few days time. New York is the city where the World Trade Centre was located and which is now called Ground-Zero. But everyone is entitled to his own perception of danger.

When I went to Nairobi, some 20 years ago, the hotel manager advised me not to go walking about at any time of day or night for fear that I might get mugged. I don't know what it is like these days but when I went to South Africa many years later, I stayed in my hotel in the evenings and even so the Pakistan team's physio was mugged on the grounds of the hotel which was in a posh suburb. Danger lurks in many forms but you can't opt out of life because danger exists.

Some of the Australian players have been vocal about not touring Pakistan. One of them has been Mark Waugh. He has good reasons to give Pakistan a miss, provided he would have been selected. It was in Pakistan that he claimed that Salim Malik had offered him (and Shane Warne) a huge sum of money to "tank" the Karachi Test match.

At that time, he did not disclose his relationship with a bookie who was then simply called John but who turned out to be a major player in gambling on cricket matches.

Mark Waugh and Warne's association with Mr John had not been one-off and he regularly received 'pocket money' from John for providing him with 'innocent' information!

Twin-brother Steve has blown hot and cold about Australia's tour, as if, getting signals or reading the mind of the Australian Cricket Board.

Pakistan must now decide on a neutral venue. Last week, I had recommended that this option be shut out as I had wanted Pakistan to call the tour off. Now the Australians have beaten us to the punch. It re-arranges the scenery on the stage. If the Test matches are to be played at a neutral venue, so be it.

The victory has already been handed to the terrorists and Australian troops who are in Afghanistan, as a part of a coalition military force, would have every right to wonder what they are doing there, putting their lives on the line. Pakistan is a victim of terrorist attacks because it too is a part of that coalition. Perhaps, the Australian High Commission in Islamabad is not aware of this.

India has blooded a new wicket-keeper, Parthiv Patel, who is 17 years and some months old. The excitement shown at picking such a young player is such that one gets the impression that the Indian tour selection committee has invented sliced bread.

Patel looks even younger than his age, as did Sachin Tendulkar when he toured Pakistan in 1989. But to us in Pakistan, catching them young is routine. Hanif Mohammad was 17 years and 300 days old when he was picked for Pakistan in 1952. Some of us forget that he was not only a batsman but first-choice wicket keeper.

We now remember Hanif as one of the great batsman of his time. But his brother Mushtaq was even younger when he first played for Pakistan against the West Indies and Wes Hall in Lahore.

There has been Khalid Hasan who played for Pakistan in England in 1954, Hasib Ahsan and Nasimul Ghani who were probably school boys when taken on Pakistan's tour of the West Indies.

Zaheer Abbas too looked terribly young when I first cast eyes on him and he went on to make a thundering double century on Pakistan's tour of England in 1971. But the crown rests on the head of Hasan Raza who was 13 years and some months when he wore the Pakistan cap, prompting a lyrical editorial in The Times of London.

The Indian school-boy Patel, looks a fine prospect and may turn out to be another Wasim Bari. Bari too was very young when he toured England in 1967 but one look at him and one knew that he would go on to be one of the best the cricket world would see. But Patel must not be spoilt because he hasn't even started to shave. Test cricket is serious business and no quarter is given. But once selected, he should be persevered with, something we did not do with Hasan Raza.

© Dawn