September 15, 2007	Saturday	Ramazan 2, 1428

LAHORE, Sept 14: A two-member security delegation from South Africa is currently in Pakistan in order to go over the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) security arrangements for the upcoming South African tour being held here from September to October.

The South Africans are scheduled to arrive here on Sept 26 to play two Tests and five One-day Internationals.

The delegation on Friday attended a briefing about the arrangements for the series at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. “We are here to work out some kind of a policy for better arrangements during the series, security being one of them. We have had a good discussion on every aspect and will, hopefully, be giving our recommendations to our board well in time for it to make a final decision,” Goolam Raja, one of the delegation members, told journalists on Friday.

He added that if the delegation had any reservations about the security measures, they would be redressed with mutual understanding as both countries’ cricket boards enjoyed friendly relations with each other.

The delegation will have another briefing in Karachi on Saturday before leaving for South Africa.

When asked about the need for such an inspection visit after Cricket South Africa confirmed the tour about two months ago, Raja said, “Like life, things too keep changing. This is a routine tour. Our board has been sending such delegations the world over, including Australia, to watch over the arrangements before any tour.”

Earlier, PCB’s Director Cricket Operations (DCO) Zakir Khan told reporters that the delegation was given a presentation by senior police officials from Lahore, Multan and Faisalabad. The visitors are to play one Test and four ODIs in these three cities while the remaining Test and one-day game will be played in Karachi.

It is said that the recent bomb blasts in the country are the reason behind such security concerns from the South African Cricket Board. The Protease had earlier toured Pakistan in 2003-04 under similar conditions when they confined themselves to Punjab, playing two Tests (Lahore and Faisalabad) and five One-day Internationals (two each in Lahore and Rawalpindi and one in Faisalabad). The visit broke a long lay-off of international cricket in Pakistan.