Australia look set to host a three-match Test series against Pakistan because of fears for safety in the subcontinent, an Australian Cricket Board official said on Tuesday. James Sutherland, the ACB's chief executive, will meet Pakistan Cricket Board officials this week to discuss the possibility, according to an ACB spokesman. "Playing in Australia will be one of a number of options," he said. The PCB officials are here for the three-game limited-overs series that starts in Melbourne on Wednesday.

Pakistan remain hopeful of staging a one-day series against Australia and New Zealand, followed by the Test series against Australia, but the volatile situation on the subcontinent seems certain to force those matches to be played elsewhere. Star bowlers Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath have already said they do not want to tour.

Pakistan's manager Yawar Saeed said nothing would be decided until the end of June. "All we would like is for the cricket to go on, there mustn't be a starvation of cricket," he said. "Whatever the boards decide, we are quite happy to play wherever they decide."

Several neutral venues, including Sharjah and Morocco, have been put forward, but the International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive Malcolm Speed said Australia would be given first choice if the series were switched from Pakistan.

"Our current rules say the first option is to go to the visiting country and see if it can be played there,"he said from London. "If the tournament can be run at a profit, we would like it to go ahead."

Only a handful of people watched Pakistan play West Indies in Sharjah last year, and it was feared a neutral venue for Pakistan-Australia would be a money-loser. Reports in the Australian media said the one-day series looked set to be played in late August and September in Cairns, Brisbane and Perth, with the Test matches being played in Brisbane, Sydney and Perth in October.

Australia have not lost a Test series at home for 10 years, winning or drawing their last 14 series. But this did not worry Yawar Saeed. "I don't think one should be looking in life for advantages all the time, one should be prepared to fight it out wherever one has to play."

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd