The Sunday News
DATES for Zimbabwe’s proposed cricket visit to Pakistan have not yet been finalised despite the Zimbabwe Cricket and the Pakistan Cricket Board having agreed on the tour.
ZC media and communications manager Lovemore Banda said that the issue of dates will be finalised by secretariats from the two cricket boards.
“At the moment there are no dates for Zimbabwe’s tour to Pakistan that is an operational issue to be sorted out by the secretariat. The boards have already agreed on the tour to go ahead so what is left is for the dates to be finalised,’’ said Banda.
It is expected that the Davenell Whatmore coached national cricket team will go into camp in Harare soon as the dates are decided for the visit to Pakistan. At the moment, Whatmore is holding training sessions with the Harare based players while Matabeleland Tuskers coach Wayne James is taking care of the Bulawayo based athletes.
Should the tour go ahead, Zimbabwe will become the first International Cricket Council full member to tour Pakistan since 2009. No Test playing nation has played an international cricket series in Pakistan since March 2009 when gunmen opened fire on the Sri Lankan team bus when the Sri Lankans were on their way to the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. The attack left six members of the Sri Lankan team injured while the same number of Pakistan policemen and two civilians were injured.
Since then, Pakistan have been forced to play their home fixtures in the United Arab Emirates. They were also forced to cede their co-hosting rights for the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup held in the sub-continent with matches that had been scheduled for Pakistan awarded to Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka.
Whatmore was the head coach of the Pakistan national cricket team from 2012 up to 2014. He won the 2012 Asia Cup with Pakistan courtesy of a two run victory over tournament host nation Bangladesh in the final.
Zimbabwe are scheduled to play five One Day International matches in Pakistan during a tour that is anticipated to take place next month.
