Pakistan refuse to play Aussies Down Under

KARACHI, June 26: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the Australian Cricket Board (PCB) were left with exploring remaining options after Pakistan refused to tour Down Under for this October's Test series.

The chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Lt Gen Tauqir Zia confirmed Wednesday that he has rejected the proposal of sending Pakistan team for a rescheduled tour to Australia after PCB was offered a two-Test series.

The general added that the ACB further said it would be next to impossible to convince its broadcasters to televise the October series in the short time that was now available.

Channel Nine, the official broadcasters of the ACB, are contractually obliged to show cricket from Nov 7 onwards when the Ashes series begins at the Gabba.

Pakistan was negotiating its share from television rights if the series was played in Australia.

"The reduced number of Tests and without a broadcaster, has left us with no option but to scrap the proposal, Tauqir said, adding: "I talked to ACB president Tuesday evening and conveyed to him that this proposal was not acceptable to PCB."

The series, originally scheduled between Oct 1 and 24 in Pakistan, has been all, but cancelled after two bomb blasts in as many months has left more than 30 dead in this port city.

According to International Cricket Council (ICC) options to tackle such situations, the series can be swapped or played on a neutral territory if agreed by both boards.

And although PCB chief was optimistic that the situation would ease out by the time series approaches, he hinted that if Australia continued to persist not sending its team, the series might be played in Dhaka or Sharjah.

"I am confident that situation would improve in Pakistan. But if it doesn't, then the series might be played either at Dhaka or Sharjah because it is feasible for us to generate good revenue through television and sponsorships there," Tauqir said.

The PCB, earlier this year, said it only able to break even after the home series against the West Indies that was played in the desert city of Sharjah. Less than 5,000 spectators turned up to watch 10 days of Test cricket but the turn out was better for the three match one-day series that pakistan won 2-1.

The PCB boss said the ACB had initially proposed to play three Tests in Colombo, Dhaka and Sharjah "but that also didn't suit us and our broadcasters who would then be required to ship out thousands of tons of equipment.

"Naturally, the PCB would have been billed for all the shipment expenses and at the end of the day we would have ended up paying bills from our pockets," Tauqir said.

He said the tri-nation one-day series scheduled in Karachi between Aug 27 and Sept 7 and also involving Australia and New Zealand, might now be played in England.

"We (PCB and ACB) are unanimous on this proposal and Brig Munawwar Rana (director of PCB) and James Sutherland (chief executive of ACB) would be talking to Tim Lamb (chief executive of ECB) in London sometime this week," Tauqir said.

He said the idea was to play the double league contest immediately after the triangular one-day series between England, Sri Lanka and India that concludes July 28.

"England is a place where you can generate a lot of revenue. Besides, they have plenty of grounds where the matches can be slotted despite the ongoing county championship. And the biggest advantage will be that the matches can draw a lot of Pakistani community particularly after we defeated Australia 2-1."

He said Rana and Sutherland would be requesting Lamb to allocate three to four centres and assist in organizing the series on Pakistan's behalf.