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| February 18, 2007 | Sunday | Muharram 29, 1428 |
Pakistan to feature in Abu Dhabi tri-series
LAHORE, Feb 17: Pakistan is likely to play a three-nation limited-overs series in Abu Dhabi in May, also involving South Africa and Sri Lanka.
"Pakistan and South Africa have confirmed their availability and after getting confirmation from Sri Lanka the series will be on,” Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Dr Nasim Ashraf said after presiding over the PCB Ad-hoc Committee meeting in Islamabad on Saturday.
Dr Nasim pointed out Pakistan was also expected to compete in a four-nation Twenty20 contest in Canada in August, before the first Twenty20 World Cup, to be held in South Africa in September. Besides Pakistan, the West Indies have confirmed their participation while negotiations were underway with two other countries in this regard.
The chairman further elaborated that Pakistan’s U-19 team would also tour Australia (in April) and England (May) this year while the Pakistan Academy team will visit Bangladesh.
Moreover, Pakistan will face India in a Prince Charles charity match in London on July 12 and the revenue generated from this game would be distributed among the institutions, being run in South Asia by Prince Charles.
The Surrey Club, London, which hosted a Twenty20 match between Pakistan and England last summer, would pay the PCB an amount of Pound Sterling 250,000 for the said match. The amount would be spent on launching cricket related projects in the areas of NWFP and Azad Kashmir, which have been affected due to Oct 8, 2005 earthquake.
No major breakthrough, however, has been made on the implementation of the PCB constitution as the Federal Law Ministry was vetting the new draft of the constitution.
The chairman, who earlier had given two deadlines (Dec 31 and Jan 31) for the implementation of the constitution, but failed to meet those, however, avoided to set a new deadline.
The PCB is likely to face strong criticism over this issue at the joint session, on Feb 23 in Islamabad, of the National Assembly and Senate Standing Committees for Sports.
The Ad-hoc Committee also received the inquiry report on the power failure at the Gaddafi Stadium during an ODI match between Pakistan and the West Indies in December. According to the report, ‘Phillips’ and ‘Nespak’ were responsible for the breakdown as the transformers were not checked properly.
The Committee also ordered to upgrade the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore and National Stadium, Karachi for hosting matches of the 2008 ICC Champions Trophy and those of the 2011 World Cup.
It has also been decided to install electronic scoreboards and screens at five international venues in Pakistan.
The PCB would also finalise the names of its disciplinary committee for approval from the ad-hoc body in the next meeting scheduled to be held on March 24. Similarly, domestic cricket structure review committee would be announced soon to give recommendations for the next domestic season till July 1.
Meanwhile, a PCB spokesman said Pakistan would invite a curator from South Africa to prepare sporting pitches in Pakistan.
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