CRICKET: Pakistani cricket was in turmoil yesterday as the New Zealand team left for the airport under police and military escort after a terrorist attack cut short their tour.

The New Zealanders headed home within hours of a suicide car bomb attack which killed 14 people - 11 of them French - just metres from their hotel in the southern port city of Karachi.

Pakistani cricket officials faced the possibility that they could be forced to play all their cricket away from home for the forseeable future.

Their international tour schedules have already been disrupted by terrorism, and even as the officials expressed their disgust at the bombing Australia began reviewing its plans to tour later in the year.

"We are disgusted because this leaves us in an embarrassing position," Pakistan Cricket board director Brigadier Munawar Rana said. "We provided the New Zealand team with the best security but this was beyond our control and is very sad."