Melbourne, Mar 6: Security has been beefed up around the Australian cricket team ahead of the second Test after the attack by terrorists on the Sri Lankan team in Pakistan, South Africa has deployed National Intervention Unit guards armed with machine guns.

NIU guards, who watched the players as they trained, replaced the normal police. The unit participates in intelligence-driven operations, according to a Government website.

Wellington, Mar 6: New Zealand all rounder Jacob Oram has expressed reservations about playing in next month’s Indian Premier League after the terrorist attack on Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan.

Oram is contracted to the Chennai Super Kings for 675,000 dollars a year, but Oram said on Thursday that no amount of money would persuade him to put his life in danger.

Oram admitted that the eight deaths in Lahore on Tuesday, coming so soon after the Mumbai terror attacks in November, in which more than 170 died, had unnerved him and made touring India no longer a straightforward exercise.

Colombo, Mar. 6: A majority of the Sri Lankan cricketers who were caught in the middle of a crossfire between security forces and terrorists in Lahore on Tuesday, have said that had they sat still, they would have died.

Backing British match referee Chris Broad’s claims that Pakistani police officers did not promptly return fire during Tuesday''s attack, Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene said the bus in which they were traveling stood still for about a minute and a half as the attackers fired at will.

As far as Jayawardene could tell, there was no police gunfire at the attackers.

"They were not under pressure …nobody was firing at them," The Scotsman quoted him, as saying.

Wellington, Mar 6 : New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori will rely on the experts advice before making his decision on whether to play cricket in the sub-continent this year.

Vettori is due to play in the Indian Premier League next month and lead New Zealand on a tour of Sri Lanka in July.

Both trips are in the balance after the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore on Tuesday.

New Delhi, Mar. 6 : Indian Premier League chairman Lalit Modi has rejected reports that the IPL 2009 is moving out of the country if the government doesn't provide enough security.

"Reports of moving venues out of India are rubbish. IPL is a domestic tournament and will stay so," said Modi.

Various media reports had claimed that the UAE and some Western countries are ready to host the cash-rich Twenty20 event, and that Modi was threatening the government about the possibility of moving it overseas.

Durban (South Africa), Mar. 6 : Australian fast bowlers Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle have been cleared to play in the second Test against South Africa in Durban. The match starts from today.

Tasmania''s Hilfenhaus, who took three wickets on debut in Australia''s win over South Africa in the first Test in Johannesburg which ended on Monday, has a back complaint but bowled a long spell in the nets behind the Kingsmead ground in an encouraging effort.