Pakistan's cricket-starved side finally got some good news on Saturday when organisers confirmed a four-nation Twenty20 tournament to be played in Canada next month. The tournament, scheduled to run from October 10-13, will feature Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and hosts Canada, giving Pakistan desperately needed matches after the eight-nation Champions Trophy was postponed over security fears.
"We have confirmation... for the tournament to be played at Maple Leaf ground, Toronto," Nauman Nabi, chairman of the event's organisers Sports International Marketing, told AFP. Pakistan was facing no immediate matches after the postponement of the Champions Trophy - scheduled between September 12-28 - and after efforts to arrange replacement fixtures failed. The tournament in Canada was originally scheduled for August, but was put off because a West Indies team was not available.
The Caribbean side will also miss out this time after they demanded a two-week delay in the event, which Nabi said was not possible. "West Indies have some problems adjusting to the new dates so they wanted the event to be further delayed, which considering the cold weather of Canada was not possible, so we replaced them with Zimbabwe," he said.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), meanwhile, has invited the West Indies to play two Tests here in November. The planned home series will follow a bilateral one-day series against the West Indies in Abu Dhabi, scheduled for earlier in November.
"I met the West Indies Board officials in Dubai and have invited them to play two Tests against us in November and we hope they give us a positive response," PCB chief operating officer Shafqat Naghmi said. Pakistan has been left without Test cricket in 2008 after Australia postponed a scheduled tour over security fears in March this year.
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