Pakistan Tour Shifting to Sharjah?

Sharjah, one of the desert states in the Arabian gulf, has emerged as the favoured neutral venue if the forthcoming scheduled West Indies' tour of Pakistan is shifted as the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has requested.

Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Lieutenant General Tauqir Zia, hinted in Karachi that the itinerary might be altered to two Tests and five one day Internationals at the Sharjah stadium, rather than the original three Tests and three one day Internationals, to maximise financial returns.

"With whatever home work we have done, a three Tests series in Sharjah and a three match one day series in Dhaka (Bangladesh) will result in no profit as shifting of television equipment will take away the bulk of the earnings," he told reporters.

"However, we have been working on another proposal of two Tests and five one day internationals in Sharjah," he added. "That would attract the spectators, the sponsors and, most importantly, mean no shifting of television equipment."

Sharjah's purpose built cricket facility has hosted more one day Internationals than any other ground but has never staged a Test.

Zia confirmed that the West Indies were still pressing for the series to be moved to a neutral venue because of their concerns over security as a result of hostilities in neighbouring Afghanistan to the west and on the disputed Kashmir border with India to the east.

According to the original itinerary, the West Indies would arrive in Pakistan January 25 and play a three day warm up match followed by three back to back Tests and three one day internationals.

Zia maintained that the situation in Pakistan was "calm, peaceful and conducive to International cricket" and said any switch could mean no substantial financial gain for the PCB.

WICB chief executive Gregory Shillingford said yesterday he had not received correspondence from the Pakistan Board for more than a week and had only heard of the latest developments from the internet.

He e mailed his PCB counterpart, General Munawar Rana, again yesterday, stressing that "time was running short", asking that it put forward a contingency plan so that there could be a "firm memorandum of understanding".

Pakistan has not played Test cricket since their tour of England in June but they have two Tests against Bangladesh in Dhaka over the next two weeks prior to the West Indies' series.

New Zealand abandoned a scheduled tour of three Tests and three one day Internationals in September following the September 11 terrorists' attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.

Tauqir confimed that Pakistan has agreed to play three one day Internationals against Australia in Melbourne's Colonial Stadium in August. The agreement was on reciprocal basis.

"Pakistan has accepted the offer on the condition that Australia will play as many one day Internationals here on reciprocal basis," he said. "Those matches will have nothing to do with Australia's scheduled tour of Pakistan later this year."

SOURCE: Stabroek News.