Despite the International Cricket Council (ICC) giving Champions Trophy security the all clear on Tuesday, Australian players are set to boycott the upcoming one-day tournament, Australian newspapers were reporting early Wednesday.

The Champions Trophy is scheduled for September 12-28 in troubled Pakistan and ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat claimed on Tuesday in London that safety and security was "satisfactory" after a meeting with officials from the England and Wales Cricket Board.

However, attempts by an ICC delegation attempted to address Cricket Australia's (CA) concerns over player safety here on Friday appear to have failed.

According to The Australian newspaper, Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) chief executive Paul Marsh, who was at Friday's meeting, said the powerful player union could not support Australia's participation in the event.

"The ACA has discussed the situation with its executive and our position is we can't recommend to our players they should tour Pakistan for the Champions Trophy," Marsh told The Australian newspaper.

"We feel for the Pakistan Cricket Board and the people of Pakistan but it is the job of the ACA to make recommendations to our members based on whether it is safe to tour.

"Unfortunately in this case we don't believe it is safe."

The Herald-Sun reported that CA spokesman Peter Young CA spokesman Peter Young had said the governing body was awaiting an official ICC report from meetings with other concerned nations - England, South Africa and New Zealand - before making a public announcement.

It said CA chairman Creagh O'Connor, chief executive James Sutherland and ICC president David Morgan held urgent talks in Beijing.

ICC officials were scheduled to meet in Dubia on Wednesday to discuss the prestigious tournament, with all matches scheduled to be played in Karachi and Lahore.

One option is to switch the event to Sri Lanka, but time is short and that country has its own security concerns.

Australia controversially postponed a full tour of Pakistan earlier this year due to the security situation.

- AFP

KARACHI (AFP) - Pakistani fast bowler Mohammad Asif's 'B' sample has tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone, leaving him facing a two-year ban, his lawyer said Tuesday.

The 25-year-old tested positive during the Indian Premier League competition held between April and June, and the Pakistan Cricket Board suspended him in July on the basis of his first sample.

"We have just completed the test on Asif's B sample and it has come back positive," his lawyer Shahid Karim told AFP by telephone from Switzerland.

"But I can tell you that the quantity of nandrolone has varied, which we can contest."

Asif tested positive for nandrolone in 2006 along with fellow paceman Shoaib Akhtar. He was banned for one year and Akhtar for two, but the bans were overturned on appeal.

Asif also faces a possible ban or fine from the Pakistan Cricket Board after he was detained in Dubai, while returning from the IPL, on charges of possessing an illegal drug.

He was held for 19 days before police deported him.