Newsdeck

Newsdeck

Cricket: Windies turn down Pakistan T20 tour

Recently crowned World Twenty20 champions the West Indies have turned down a request from Pakistan to play matches in the militancy-wracked South Asian country due to security fears, a senior official said Monday.

Pakistan are due to host the West Indies in two Tests, five one-day and two Twenty20 internationals in September and October this year.

Nearly all the country’s home series have been played in the neutral grounds of the UAE since a 2009 militant attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team, but Pakistan had hoped the T20 leg of West Indies’ tour could be played in Lahore.

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan said: “We wanted the Twenty20s to be played in Pakistan and made an effort but the West Indies Cricket Board have refused saying they have security fears, so the full series will be played in (the) United Arab Emirates.”

The West Indies’ refusal came after a suicide bomber killed 73 people in a park in Lahore on Easter Sunday last month.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, the Taliban faction that carried out the bombing, said Christians were the target of the attack.

Pakistan hosted Zimbabwe for two Twenty20s and three one-day internationals in Lahore last year hoping the tour would pave the way for more international teams to visit — a hope that has yet to be realised.

sh/ia/rb

© 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse

Gallery

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

We would like our readers to start paying for Daily Maverick...

…but we are not going to force you to. Over 10 million users come to us each month for the news. We have not put it behind a paywall because the truth should not be a luxury.

Instead we ask our readers who can afford to contribute, even a small amount each month, to do so.

If you appreciate it and want to see us keep going then please consider contributing whatever you can.

Support Daily Maverick→
Payment options

Become a Maverick Insider

This could have been a paywall

On another site this would have been a paywall. Maverick Insider keeps our content free for all.

Become an Insider

Every seed of hope will one day sprout.

South African citizens throughout the country are standing up for our human rights. Stay informed, connected and inspired by our weekly FREE Maverick Citizen newsletter.