Australian captain Michael Clarke said Sunday his team was looking forward to facing Pakistan in the forthcoming limited over series, to be played in the United Arab Emirates for security concerns. "All of us are very happy to be playing Pakistan," Clarke told a news conference after his team arrived for the series of five one-day and one Twenty20 match, to be played in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
"We are playing Pakistan after all, after a long time, so we want to make the most of this opportunity on a wonderful ground here," said Clarke of Dubai Sports City's stadium, where the first one-day will be played Wednesday.
The second match will also be played here, on Friday, before the teams move to Abu Dhabi for three ODI matches, on April 27, May 1 and 3. The only Twenty20 match will be played in Dubai on May 7.
Australia have not played Pakistan in a one-day international since February 2005 and the two sides have since met only in the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa two years ago.
Australia have not toured Pakistan since 1998 and forced Pakistan to play their Test and one-day series on neutral venues in Kenya, Sri Lanka and Sharjah in 2002. They were scheduled to tour Pakistan in March 2008 but pulled out due to security fears. Australia rescheduled the tour - for one-dayers in 2009 and for Tests in 2010 - and forced Pakistan to play in the UAE.
The 28-year-old Clarke is standing in for regular captain Ricky Ponting, who is being rested for this series along with batsman Michael Hussey and paceman Mitchell Johnson.
Clarke said Australia remained formidable without the missing trio, adding that "it's a great honour to lead Australia and I look forward to this challenge." After playing Pakistan, Australia next play in England, in the Twenty20 World Cup tournament next month and in the Ashes tournament against the host nation, starting in July.
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