LAHORE: Terming his recent meeting with Marylebone Cricket Club’s World Cricket Committee positive, Pakistan Cricket Board managing director Wasim Khan on Wednesday said he is confident that an MCC team will tour the country in the near future.

Wasim was invited by the MCC, based at Lord’s in London, earlier this week for a briefing on the current situation in Pakistan cricket, and how it can play a role in completely restoring international cricket in the country.

“The meeting with the MCC was very positive. Shane Warne, Kumar Sangakkara and Mike Gatting, the chair of the committee, were present there. They wanted me to present the current security [situation] in Pakistan, along with what impact playing no international cricket here has had and what can be done to restore it,” Wasim said while speaking at the flag-hoisting ceremony on the Pakistan Independence Day here at the National Cricket Academy.

“I am very, very confident that we will have an MCC team touring Pakistan in the near future. However, there are some security-related matters that need to be covered before they send their team. We will work very closely with the MCC to make sure the tour happens.”

This went down as the first instance a PCB representative was invited by the World Cricket Committee since it came into existence in 2006.

Earlier this month, a high-powered security delegation from Sri Lanka Cricket had visited Pakistan’s two major cities — Karachi and Lahore — to monitor the security measures. The PCB wants to host Sri Lankan team for the upcoming two-Test series in Lahore and Karachi, in place of the neutral venues of the UAE.

High-profile delegations from Cricket Australia and the English and Wales Cricket Board will also tour Pakistan in September and October, respectively to observe the on-ground security situation in the country.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2019