All Star cricket side set to play in Pakistan

DUBAI // The International Cricket Council have firmed up their plan to stage a fundraising series between an invitational XI of their own and Pakistan, and are hoping to stage matches in the troubled nation. When the series was originally proposed at the end of last year, the UAE and the UK were mooted as potential hosts.

The Emirates had been pencilled in to stage the stage the exhibition games immediately after a bilateral series between Pakistan and South Africa here in November. However, Giles Clarke, who heads the ICC working party tasked with getting international cricket back to Pakistan, hopes the nation's cricket lovers will get the chance to see their players back on home soil. "World cricket must go back and play in Pakistan," Clarke, the chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, wrote in the September issue of The Wisden Cricketer magazine.

"The security challenges are enormous but we cannot allow the terrorists to win. With determination and courage an ICC World XI in due course will go and play against Pakistan in her great cities and there will be a marvellous atmosphere." Cricket tours of Pakistan were abandoned after the Sri Lankan team's bus was attacked by gunmen in Lahore in March 2009. The ensuing absence of the international game has brought with it a substantial financial hit for the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

The national team have continued to play, with the UAE becoming their most regular home from home, and England also playing host to matches this summer. However, revenue has diminished as a result. According to Clarke, the PCB's income has dropped from £27 million (Dh154m) to £10m since their isolation. As a marker of how deep the financial malaise ran, the board were reportedly unable even to afford Kookaburra balls, the international standard, for use in their domestic cricket.

Salman Butt, the captain of the Pakistan side who are preparing to face England at the Oval today, welcomed Clarke's idea. "People of Pakistan are cricket lovers and they are their heroes not only from Pakistan but from around the world and they love watching them," Butt said at yesterday's pre-Test press conference. "They are great admirers of people playing around the world so if that happens it would be great for Pakistan cricket."

The make-up of the ICC side is as yet unspecific. pradley@thenational.ae