July 20, 2007	Friday	Rajab 04, 1428

KARACHI, July 19: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has ruled out playing a Twenty20 match against India to raise funds for the Bob Woolmer academy in Cape Town due to the congested fixture schedule.

Woolmer died in Kingston, Jamaica during the World Cup on March 18, a day after his team lost to debutants Ireland to be bundled out in the first round. Jamaican authorities investigated the death as a murder before announcing it had occurred due to natural causes.

Gill Woolmer, Woolmer’s widow, has written to both the boards asking them to play a fund-raiser for his dream project.

“We got a letter asking us to play a Twenty20 match with India for the academy. But this seems unlikely in the near future,” PCB spokesman Ehsan Malik said on Thursday, adding a tight international schedule for both teams and a finalised itinerary for Pakistan’s tour of India in November-December were the reasons behind the decision.

The PCB, however, will help in other ways to establish the academy and has been in constant touch with Gill.“She had also proposed we play a Twenty20 match against England in England in August but the English team were already committed,” he said.

The PCB has dedicated the practice area of its National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Lahore to Woolmer and named it after him. —Reuters