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| September 5, 2003 | Friday | Rajab 7, 1424 |
South Africa wants Peshawar, Karachi matches shifted
MULTAN Sept 4: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will try to convince South Africa to withdraw its request to shift tour matches away from Karachi and Peshawar.
PCB chief executive Rameez Raja said that the board had been asked to consider venue changes in a letter from the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA).
“There are no major security problems in these two cities and they have only recently hosted Tests against Bangladesh without any security incident,” Raja said on Thursday.
Ramiz said we knew (South Africa’s) foreign office had not forbidden them to travel to these cities.
“Because the situation is safe. We hosted two Tests in these cities against Bangladesh in the last fortnight. The tour itinerary was confirmed by the UCB and we hope all will settle down,” he added.
“But we will convince them not to change the fixtures. I will write them in the next two days and request them not to demand any venue changes. We can’t deprive the people of Karachi of international cricket,” declared Ramiz.
South Africa arrive in Pakistan on Sept 21 to play three Tests and three one-day internationals.
Karachi is to host a warm-up one-dayer, the first ODI on Sept 26 and a Test match while Peshawar is scheduled to stage the second Test in October.
The UCB was advised by South Africa’s foreign office that while there was no particular threat to South Africans, there were “areas of concern”.
Bronwyn Wilkinson, the head of communications at the board, said the UCB wanted those two venues to be switched.
Graeme Smith, South Africa’s captain, said that the team would adhere to any instructions given by the board.—Agencies
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