ST JOHN’S (Antigua): West Indies women’s captain Stafanie Taylor will miss her team’s three-match Twenty20 International series in Pakistan which starts later this month over security concerns, the Cricket West Indies (CWI) announced on Thursday.

The 2016 World Twenty20 champions are set to play back-t-back games in Karachi on Jan 31, Feb 1 and 3.

But all-rounder Taylor, one of the biggest stars in the women’s game, will only join the squad for the following three ICC Women’s Championship One-day Internationals in the United Arab Emirates.

“Following the detailed security plan from the PCB and the independent security assessment....Stafanie Taylor has opted out of touring Pakistan,” the CWI confirmed.

Pakistan hosted the West Indies men’s team last April for three Twenty20 Internationals in Karachi despite the country been largely shunned by international sides due to security concerns after an attack on the Sri Lankan team by gunmen in 2009.

Only a handful of other international cricket matches have been played in Pakistan since that attack. Zimbabwe played five games at Lahore in 2015, while Sri Lanka returned to the country for the first time since the attack in 2017 as efforts have increased to return regular internationals to Pakistan with a World XI also playing three T20 games in Lahore that year.

“This tour is a further major step for our friends at the Pakistan Cricket Board to bring their cricket back home, and we are pleased that our players and support staff have recognised this and agreed to play the T20Is in Pakistan,” CWI chief executive Johnny Grave said.

PCB’s Chief Operating Officer Subhan Ahmad said the decision endorsed their position that Pakistan was as safe as any other country.

“On behalf of the PCB, I would like to say that we are confident that this tour will go a long way in the complete revival of international cricket in Pakistan,” he said.

The West Indies women’s team will arrive in Dubai on Jan. 26 for a training camp before travelling to Karachi four days later.

Merissa Aguillera will take over as skipper from Taylor while Shakera Selman has been named vice-captain for the T20s as the West Indies look to bounce back from their semi-final loss on home soil to Australia in the World Twenty20 last November.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2019