TANGIERS, Aug 12: Zimbabwe are open to any offer from the Pakistan cricket board to play a one-day series in Pakistan in October after the refusal of Australia to play a Test series there.

“We are there for Pakistan. The Zimbabwe cricket union is willing to accommodate and help any country if we can,” the president of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union Peter Chingoka, currently in Tangiers, told Reuters.

“If they want, we can look at a possible tour in October for a one-day series,” he said.

“We feel for Pakistan after Australia’s refusal to go there for the Test series. We support them completely because we have suffered ourselves.”

Australia refused to tour Zimbabwe in April because of safety fears and on Saturday announced they would not be going to Pakistan for three Tests, also because of security concerns.

The Australians called off the tour of Pakistan after two bloody attacks on Christian targets by suspected Islamic militants last week.

Chingoka said his position was that touring countries should allow the hosts to be the best judge of whether it was safe to play cricket.

“We feel that Australia should have toured Pakistan especially after (Pakistan’s) government had given out security assurances,” he said.

Pakistan have yet to confirm a neutral venue for the Test series with Australia in October but Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital, is being considered.

Pakistan are due to tour Zimbabwe for two Tests and five One-day Internationals from Nov 4.—Reuters