RIYADH, July 13: Saudi Arabia’s first high profile cricket match, a one-day game between a Pakistan XI and an International XI, has been postponed to make way for a soccer match, an organiser said on Wednesday.

Ahmed Khaja said Friday’s opening match at the King Fahd stadium in Riyadh had been put back to July 29th so a soccer final between Al-Shabab and Al-Hilal could be switched from Jeddah.

He said the other two cricket matches were scheduled to go ahead as planned on July 21 and 22 in Jeddah.

Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif said on Tuesday the games, which will be played on artificial turf at the height of the Arabian summer, were aimed at developing and promote the game in Saudi Arabia.

Cricket is of negligible interest to Saudi Arabia’s native population but is closely followed by millions of expatriate workers in the Gulf state from cricket-mad nations like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.—Reuters