ICC plans to send World cricket XI to Pakistan
Published:Tuesday | August 17, 2010 | 1:49 PM
The International Cricket Council (ICC) wants to end Pakistan's sporting isolation following a terror attack on the Sri Lanka team by sending an invitational World Eleven to play there.
The ICC says it hopes fixtures can be played in Pakistan by the end of 2011, but it was still assessing the security situation and the availability of players.
Giles Clarke, who heads the task force set up by the ICC in 2009 to help Pakistan fulfill its international cricket commitments, says world cricket must go back and play in Pakistan.
However, Clarke, unveiling the plans in the September issue of The Wisden Cricketer magazine, wrote that it was still too early for a national team to return to Pakistan.
He says the security challenges are enormous but ICC cannot allow the terrorists to win.
Clarke says with determination and courage an ICC World Eleven in due course will go and play against Pakistan.
Pakistan captain Salman Butt says home matches against a team of world-class players would be warmly welcomed by his country's cricket fans.
Cricket tours of Pakistan were abandoned after the Sri Lanka team's convoy was attacked by gunmen en route to a test at Lahore on March 9, 2009. Six police officers and a van driver were killed, and Sri Lanka players and officials were injured.
The ICC also removed Pakistan as one of the four planned hosts for the 2011 World Cup, which will be staged in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka starting in February.