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CHRISTCHURCH, July 10: New Zealand Cricket has no news on its suggested participation in a tri-series in Kenya with Pakistan and Australia.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Tuesday commented that it had decided to use Kenya as a home venue for the series as the result of Australia and New Zealand not wanting to travel to Pakistan for security reasons.
However, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) knows nothing of the plans.
NZC chief executive Martin Snedden has had preliminary discussions with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) about the possibility of the Black Caps playing in a tri-series with Pakistan and Australia.
The series would be played just prior to the ICC Champions Trophy, which is taking place in Sri Lanka in late September this year.
Snedden said he had a brief informal discussion about the possibility of playing a tri-series at a neutral venue with the director of PCB, Brig Munawar Rana, at the ICC general meeting in London last month.
However, Snedden gave no assurances that any proposal by Pakistan Cricket would be accepted.
“I have heard reports in the media today suggesting Nairobi as a likely venue and announcing a schedule for the tri-series,” said Snedden.
“The fact is that I have had no communication with Pakistan Cricket Board since I spoke briefly with Brig Munawar Rana at the ICC meeting last month,” Snedden said.
Snedden committed to giving the matter some thought but nothing in writing had been received from Pakistan and nor had there been any conversations since London with anyone from Pakistan.
And certainly there had been no mention of Nairobi as a venue.
Snedden did say that such a tournament was a possibility but until some clear guidelines had been received from Pakistan it would remain only as a possibility.
“At the moment we are considering how we can best prepare the team for the ICC knockout tournament.
“One possibility might be sending the Black Caps to Australia to play a tri-series with two or three Australian state teams.
“Another possibility might be a tri-series with Australia and Pakistan but, until I receive some sort of formal proposal from Pakistan Cricket, it is difficult to assess the likelihood of this,” he said.—PPI
AFP ADDS: The chairman of the PCB Lt Gen Tauqir Zia Wednesday insisted Nairobi was the most suited venue for the triangular series.
But he said it was waiting for the green light from Australia and New Zealand to shift what was to have been a home-series.
“The venue of the tri-series with Australia and New Zealand will be finalised with the consent of Australia and New Zealand,” Tauqir said.
“For the tri-series we are running out of time so we would definitely talk to New Zealand Cricket (NZC) and they owe us some cricket.”
“As per our negotiations NZC is committed to playing a tri-series but if they don’t come to Kenya we would play extra games with Australia,” Tauqir said.
