da aviator aposta： The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will press the International CricketCouncil (ICC) to reschedule New Zealand’s tour to Pakistan which isall but cancelled
18-Sep-2001The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will press the International CricketCouncil (ICC) to reschedule New Zealand’s tour to Pakistan which isall but cancelled.The PCB will be making the claim in next month’s executive boardmeeting of the ICC which has been shifted from Lahore to Kuala Lumpur.The PCB will be contesting on the point that New Zealand were toundertake a six-week tour to Pakistan in accordance with the 10-yearprogramme which the ICC constituted and released last year.The objective of the 10-year schedule is to ensure Test cricket isplayed on equality on home and away basis. Besides, the World TestChampionship is also to be decided on points accumulated in the firstfive years. But it doesn’t seem to be the case in the presentcircumstances. Pakistan toured New Zealand earlier this year andhelped New Zealand Cricket (NZC) earn revenues worth millions. Inaddition to this, New Zealand earned valuable points for the WTC whenthey played a drawn series. If Pakistan had managed to beat NewZealand at home, they would have earned at least two points whichwould have helped them improve their world ranking.The PCB will also be pressurizing the ICC to accommodate New Zealand’stour in the next couple of years because the game’s governing body hasnot kept provision of rescheduling tours in its calendar.”There is little the two boards can do after the ICC has taken controlof the tours by the teams. But besides urging the ICC, the PCB willalso discuss the matter with NZC and try to earn their support,”insiders in the PCB said.”If present day cricket is being played according to ICC charter, itis ICC’s responsibility to rescheduled a tour if it is cancelledbecause of reasons beyond the host board’s control.”The PCB have expressed willingness to host New Zealand next yearbetween May and August (subject to official cancellation of thisyear’s tour) where there will be no cricket in Pakistan. New Zealandalso have an off season. However, it would be an unwise move to hostNew Zealand in that time frame as Pakistan is to participate inSeptember’s ICC knock-out tournament (venue undecided), then hostAustralia before proceeding on African safari where they will playTests in South Africa, Kenya and the World Cup in South Africa.It is time for the ICC to come out of a slumber and make sure thatPakistan doesn’t get a raw deal. Needless to say that Pakistan hasalready lost approximately $15million due to ICC’s step-motherlytreatment which failed to make its presence felt when India cancelleda scheduled tour to Pakistan earlier this year.According to the 10-year schedule, India and Pakistan are programmedto cross borders three times each. Pakistan last toured India in 1999while India’s previous Test tour was 12 years ago.