Pakistan will 'host' Australia Tests in England next summer
Friday, March 06, 2009
By Khalid Hussain
KARACHI: It has been all but finalised that Pakistan will 'host' a three-match Test series against Australia on neutral soil in England from the second week of August to the first week of September in 2010.
'The News' has gathered from various sources on Thursday that Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) bosses have made up their minds to give the go-ahead to stage the Test series against Australia in England next year after getting convinced that the Aussies will not tour Pakistan.
Sources said that London, Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham are being considered as possible venues for the three-match Test series that was agreed between the two countries after the Australians refused to tour Pakistan in 2008 because of safety fears. The four cities are on the top of the priority list because they have large populations of Pakistani expatriates living there.
It was decided between the two boards after last year's home series against the Aussies was called off that as compensation Australia will tour Pakistan in 2009 for a one-day series and then in 2010 for the Tests.
However, the one-day series to be played in April-May this year was relocated to offshore venues - Abu Dhabi and Dubai - after the Aussies refused to play the games in Pakistan.
The Australians, who have avoided touring Pakistan in the past because of security concerns, are now even more certain that they would be unsafe in the country after unidentified gunmen attacked Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore on Tuesday.
The Sri Lankan team was on its way to the Gaddafi Stadium for the third day of its second and final Test against Pakistan when the ambush took place. All the cricketers survived the attack which left several people, mostly policemen, dead.
Though Cricket Australia (CA) is yet to take a formal decision on its team tour of Pakistan in 2010, sources said that it has given clear indications to the PCB that the series will have to be played on a neutral venue.
A Cricket Australia spokesman had already said that negotiations with PCB began after the Lahore attack to decide an alternate venue for the three Tests.
"Pakistan has accepted for some time that we aren't able to visit because of the safety and security concerns in that nation," CA spokesman Peter Young told reporters in Melbourne on Wednesday.
"Pakistan has started the discussion about playing three Test matches at neutral venues in England in 2010. It's a work in progress, the PCB is responsible for coming up with the arrangements, but in principle we've been comfortable and (we're) talking with them."
When contacted by this correspondent Saleem Altaf, the PCB chief operating officer, said that England had actually emerged as a possible venue for the Tests against Australia last year.
"Our chairman had discussed the possibility of hosting Australia in England last year with Giles Clarke," he said referring to a discussion between PCB chairman Ijaz Butt and Clarke, his counterpart from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
Altaf agreed that considering the present scenario, there is a big possibility that the Test series will be played in England.
To a question, Altaf said that the Australians have raised no security concerns about sending their cricketers for the one-day series in UAE.
"The Australian security experts are currently in UAE for an inspection," he said. "But it's a routine visit and we are confident that everything about the series will be finalised soon."
Meanwhile, Pakistan captain Younis Khan has said that he would have preferred to play Australia in Pakistan but was quick to add that he would be 'excited' even if the series is played in England.
"I would love to play Australia in Pakistan, but that is difficult. It will be a new experience for me as captain leading my team in a home game against Australia in England. I will look at it two ways - I will be sad because my home series is in England, but also excited to play on the good pitches of England against a very good Australian team," Younis said in an interview.
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