Last Gasp Efforts to Save Pakistan Tour

Pakistan?s cricket authorities will stage a last-ditch effort to save the proposed tour by the West Indies by meeting President Pervez Musharraf today.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman General Tauqir Zia said the talks would centre on security issues surrounding the tour, it was reported on the BBC web site BBC Sport Online.

The West Indies have doubts over the safety of their players if the tour to Pakistan goes ahead and have suggested that the series should be played in a neutral venue, likely to be Bangladesh.

But the PCB want the series, due to start on January 25, to take place in Pakistan.

New Zealand and Sri Lanka pulled out of tours to Pakistan last year following the war in Afghanistan, costing the PCB millions of dollars in lost revenue.

West Indies Cricket Board president Wes Hall also has concerns about the political tensions between Pakistan and India. ?We are as concerned for the safety of the West Indies as they are and we maintain that Pakistan is safe for cricket,? Zia said yesterday.

?President Musharraf?s opinion will decide what action we will take. The dispute between Pakistan and India over Kashmir has been going on for 53 years, while the trouble in Afghanistan doesn?t look like ending just yet.

?So if countries don?t want to tour here Pakistan may as well cease to be a Test nation. We must have cricket here.?

But Hall, who is in London meeting with British Sky Broadcasting, remained unconvinced about security in the region.

?Bombs were dropped on east Afghanistan today and troops still line the Pakistan-India border so how can our players perform at their best under those circumstances,? Hall was quoted as saying.

?I?m still not ruling out touring Pakistan but we would favour neutral venues.?

The West Indies have decided they are willing to play the three Tests and three One-Dayers, but not in Pakistan. Sharjah, Morocco and Bangladesh have been nominated as alternative neutral venues.

SOURCE: Barbados Nation