Sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe is to push for the Pakistan team to be offered a temporary home in England.

Even before the terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team, Cricket Australia had already discussed playing Pakistan in England in 2010.

Sutcliffe, who has many people of Pakistani origin in his Bradford constituency, believes England could become a neutral venue for Pakistan to play Tests and one-day internationals.

The sports minister said: "This is, of course, a tragedy for all those who lost their lives.

"But this is also tragic for cricket in Pakistan. I want to make sure that the sport in general, and cricket in Pakistan in particular, does not lose out.

"We could offer Pakistan a temporary home here - most of the players play here in the county game already.

"There is also great support for the team in many parts of the country - for example, among the Pakistani community in my constituency.

"Whatever happens, safety for the players and fans will be at the heart of anything we do."

The 2011 cricket World Cup - planned to be co-hosted by Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh - is to be reviewed by the International Cricket Council as a result of the attack in which seven people died and eight members of the Sri Lanka squad were injured.

Sutcliffe said he would be speaking with the ECB and the Home Office to see if the attack would impact on security arrangements for the Twenty20 World Cup being held in England later this year.

He added: "I spoke to [ECB chief executive] David Collier this morning and I will be in touch with the Home Office too. No doubt we will have to review security for the Twenty20 World Cup in the light of what has happened.

"But given our own problems with terrorists here in the past I don't anticipate it causing major changes to the planned security arrangements."