Visitors to play ODI and Twenty20 at Gaddafi Stadium

16 April, 2012

LAHORE: Bangladesh on Sunday confirmed their tour of Pakistan later this month to bring international cricket back to the country and become the first international cricket team to play in the country since 2009.

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The tour will include a one-day international and one Twenty20 match to be held at Gaddafi Stadium here. The ODI is scheduled for April 29 and the T20 match will be played a day later at the same venue. International cricket has been suspended in Pakistan since a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in March 2009. The attack left eight people dead and seven visiting players and their assistant coach wounded. Pakistan's government had promised fool-proof security for the Bangladesh team.
“I want to thank the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and the Bangladesh government for their support for this tour,” Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Chaudhary Zaka Ashraf said in a statement. “Obviously this is very important for us and we will leave no stone unturned to ensure that this tour takes place in a befitting manner,” added Ashraf. BCB president Mustafa Kamal has also welcomed the chance to tour Pakistan.
A security delegation led by Kamal visited Pakistan last month and got a briefing on proposed security measures from Pakistan government officials. The delegation also visited Lahore and were shown a mock demonstration of how the teams would be escorted from hotel to the ground. But until this week, the PCB was still awaiting a response from the BCB, which has submitted its security report to the government for clearance of the tour. Both the countries had started to show signs of bitterness after Bangladesh showed reluctance over the tour and Pakistan threatened to review relations if the tour doesn't take place.
Kamal, who is a joint nominee of Pakistan-Bangladesh for the ICC vice president's post in 2012, said the series would give Pakistani people some cricket. “The public of Pakistan have been deprived of cricket and we felt that we needed to support them. The reception we received when we toured Lahore and Karachi on our security visit was overwhelming. This tour is taking place after 2009 and this short tour will hopefully demonstrate to the world that cricket should start taking place in Pakistan,” said Kamal.
The tour announcement comes as the ICC is considering Kamal's nomination for a vice-president post on the board. Kamal appeared to be the favourite to replace the outgoing Alan Isaac — until the PCB's warning. Without the support of Pakistan, it is unlikely the nomination would be approved by the ICC.
PCB and BCB inform ICC: The ICC said it would need a comprehensive security plan from Pakistan to send match officials. “The ICC was informed that the tour will take place and the ICC, having due regard to its duty of care to match officials and other ICC staff, requested that the PCB to immediately provide a comprehensive security plan for consideration,” the ICC said in a statement. “Thereafter, the ICC's Anti Corruption and Security Unit will commission a localised risk assessment to determine whether its officials and staff are appropriately protected by the proposed security plan, before any further decision is taken in relation to their appointment,” the ICC added. Last month, the ICC had announced a 'special dispensation' to be made only in 'exceptional circumstances' in order to ensure that a bilateral series take place even if the ruling body has determined it 'unsafe' to appoint its officials for such series. This would allow such series to be manned by 'non-neutral match officials.'
Pakistan last year invited Bangladesh for a three-match one-day series which was later changed to two ODIs and one Twenty20 international. Karachi and Rawalpindi were the other possible venues but Bangladesh have agreed to playing in Lahore only. Even before the 2009 attacks foreign teams had refused to tour Pakistan since the war on terror began in the wake of 9-11 attacks in 2001 in the United States. Australia have not toured Pakistan since 1998, forcing them to play in Sri Lanka and Sharjah (2002), 2009 (UAE) and England (2010). Pakistan had also played their home series in New Zealand in 2009.
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