WELLINGTON: The New Zealand authorities are weighing up playing cricket in Pakistan for the first time in 15 years after an invitation from the south Asian nation’s cricket board.

New Zealand have not played in Pakistan since 2003 due to security concerns but had been asked to play Twenty20 matches in the country later this year, the governing body New Zealand Cricket (NZC) said.

“NZC has received a request from the PCB chairman [Najam Sethi] for New Zealand to play in Pakistan,” an NZC spokesman said on Wednesday. “At the moment NZC is doing due diligence on the request and consulting with security providers, the government, and the players.

“We will respond to the PCB when this process has been completed.”

The Black Caps are scheduled to play three Tests, three One-day Internationals and three Twenty20 Internationals against Pakistan in November at the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the country’s designated ‘home’ base since late 2010.

No dates have been issued for those matches but the spokesman said they would be played in the UAE.

Pakistan have remained largely starved of international cricket since the 2009 attacks on a bus carrying Sri Lanka’s team in Lahore, which wounded six players and a British coach, and killed eight Pakistanis.

But Sri Lanka returned to the country for a Twenty20 International in Lahore in October and West Indies played a three-match T20 International series in Karachi at the start of April this year.

New Zealand abandoned their last Test tour of Pakistan in May 2002 after a bomb exploded outside their Karachi hotel but returned to play an ODI series in December 2003.

The Pakistan media, citing an unnamed source in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), reported that Australia had also been approached to play in the country.

Australia are scheduled to play a limited overs series against Pakistan at the UAE later in the year, likely starting in September or October.

But Cricket Australia (CA) declined to confirm the approach but said their next series against Pakistan would remain in the Middle East.

“The safety and security of Australian players is our number one priority,” a CA spokesman said in Melbourne. “From an Australia team perspective, we are not contemplating moving our current bilateral-tour arrangements from taking on Pakistan in the Middle East, when they host the next series.”

Pakistan and Australia further slated to play a three-Test series next March.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2018