September 27, 2008	Saturday	Ramazan 26, 1429

LAHORE, Sept 26: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is looking forward to next month’s tour of the West Indies women’s cricket team to Pakistan and is making all out efforts for conducting it safely.

While reacting to a news item carried by some newspapers on Friday according to which the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) had put the tour to Pakistan on hold while showing concern for the security of their players in Pakistan, specially after the Marriott Hotel incident, PCB’s media director Mansoor Suhail said that the PCB was making all the necessary arrangements for the safe stay of the West Indies women’s team in Pakistan.

The visitors are to play five ODIs and three Twenty20 matches in Karachi and Hyderabad from Oct 18 to 29.

The Caribbean team will also be visiting Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, but its only concern was about the Pakistan tour.

“We are very concerned that the female players will be at risk especially in light of the Marriott bombing and as such, the Pakistan leg of the tour has been put on hold until the safety of the team is determined,” Donald Peters, the WICB chief executive, told the Caribbean Media Corporation.

Similarly, team manager Carol Wilby-Maxwell has said: “I am not saying that the team should go, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what part of the world you are in, there will be potential danger.”

Mansoor further said: “The West Indies cricket board has not made any contact with us officially in this regard but we are hopeful that their stay in Pakistan will be quite safe.”

Meanwhile, the media director informed that Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson, who is currently vacationing in Australia, will be here by Sept 29 or 30. The coach, he said, would be watching the performance of the players in the forthcoming Oct 4-8 National Twenty20 tournament. Later will leave with the Pakistan team for Canada for the quadrangular tournament to be held there from Oct 10 to 13.

Moreover, a security officer of the PCB said that strict security arrangements were being made to conduct the Twenty20 matches at Lahore from Oct 4 to 8. The PCB will take all security measures to host the national event in a befitting manner to reassure the international community that Pakistan is a safe country, he said.