September 11, 2008	Thursday	Ramazan 10, 1429

KARACHI, Sept 10: Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik fears the country will slip into cricket isolation if security concerns continue to prevent other teams from touring.

Pakistan cricket suffered two major setbacks this year with Australia postponing a Test tour in March and the eight-nation ICC Champions Trophy being postponed by the ICC last month because of security concerns expressed by some of the participating teams.

“It is very frustrating for the players the way two important events have been postponed this year. It is so depressing that despite being a major cricket playing nation we do not play a Test match this year,” Malik told reporters.

Pakistan played their last Test against India in December and their next Test series is not until January when India tour.

Malik said for cricket to thrive in Pakistan it was important for the International Cricket Council (ICC) to ensure teams toured the country.

“The ICC needs to step in and play a more decisive role. If teams keep on refusing to tour Pakistan despite assurances even from our government we will become an isolated cricket nation,” he added.

“I know it’s not easy to arrange such series on a short notice, but the ICC, being the parent body of cricket, can do it,” he stated. “[The ICC] should put its weight behind any move for an away one-day or Test series.”

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had tried to arrange an alternate series after the postponement of the Champions Trophy but without success. South Africa declined to take part in a tri-series this month with Sri Lanka, citing the need to give players a rest after their tour of England.

Pakistan are currently placed at No 6 in both Test and one-day rankings. Prolific batsman Mohammad Yousuf is the sole Pakistani nomination in the ‘ODI Player of the Year’ category of the ICC awards.

“It’s quite alarming both for our team and players as we have slipped down in the Test rankings and our players are suffering because they didn’t get chance to play Test cricket for the last eight months,” Shoaib said.

Pakistan’s next major international assignment is a quadrangular Twenty20 tournament in Toronto, Canada next month in which the host nation, Sri Lanka and the West Indies are the other competing nations.

Also on Wednesday, a PCB official said Pakistan is unlikely to go ahead with a planned One-day International series against Sri Lanka later this month due to lack of sponsor interest.

“Efforts to organise matches against Sri Lanka have encountered difficulties and the main thing is lack of sponsors’ interest in the series,” PCB spokesman Mansoor Suhail said.

“The way things stand at the moment, it’s highly unlikely that the series will be played.”

The PCB expects to make a final decision on the proposed series this week.

The five-match limited-overs series was planned in Sri Lanka to fill the gap created after the ICC Champions Trophy was postponed for a year.—Agencies