Pakistan face hosts Canada in opener on October 10: Four-nation Twenty20 tournament in Toronto confirmed

September 10th, 2008 Sana · 1 Comment

LAHORE: Pakistan’s cricket drought will come to an end when they take part in a four-nation Twenty20 torunament in Toronto, Canada next month. Other three teams – hosts Canada, West Indies and Sri Lanka– have confirmed their particiaption in the event that was postponed in August this year due to the unavailability of West Indies. “Now all teams have given their written confirmation to the organisers,” sources told Daily Times here on Tuesday. Pakistan will face hosts Canada in their opening match on October 10 and the final will held on October 13. The winners will get $60,000, the runners-up will earn $30,000, best batsman, bowler and fielder will pocket $1500 each, the Man of the Match will receive $1000 and the Man of the Sereis will be awarded Ford Chrysler car worth $30,000. Pakistan’s national team players will be involved in the National Twenty20 Championship in Lahore from October 4 to 8, which will serve as a warm-up for the tournament in Toronto.

Pakistan are short on international cricket after Australia postponed their tour over security fears in March this year. Australia were due to play three Tests, five one-day internationals and a Twenty20 international. However, they agreed to reschedule the tour into two visits — five one-day internationals in 2009 and three Tests in 2010. And later on the International Crciekt Council (ICC) also postponed the Champions Trophy, scheduled to be held in September 12-28 in Pakistan, to October 2009 due to pull out of South Africa over security concerns and reservations shown by Australia, New Zealand and England. The decision was taken during a teleconference involving the ICC’s executive board in Dubai. The ICC had said under these circumstances, it was considered prudent to postpone the event to October 2009, a time conditions would be more acceptable for all the competing teams.

It was also agreed that Pakistan would retain the right to host the eight-nation tournament next year. It is interesting to note that the ICC had decided against relocating the tournament to Sri Lanka, an alternate venue. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had resisted the possibility of switching the tournament to Sri Lanka, having successfully staged the six-nation Asia Cup in June and July, as it would have lost them a lot of money.

The Australian tour postponement and Champions Trophy left Pakistan with no five-day Tests to play for the rest of 2008 and their next Test series is against India at home early next year. Pakistan’s next tour is to Sri Lanka, where they play three Tests in July 2009. Efforts by the PCB to lure India, Sri Lanka and South Africa for short tours have all fallen through.

Since a tour of India last year, Pakistan have only featured in low-profile home series against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, and featured in a three-nation event in Bangladesh and the six-nation Asia Cup — all one-day matches. Previously international cricket in Pakistan has been disrupted because of security issues. New Zealand cut short a tour in May 2002 after a bomb blast outside their hotel in Karachi killed 19 people, including 14 French naval staff. And the PCB had to relocate two home series to Sri Lanka and Sharjah later that year after the West Indies and Australia refused to tour.

Schedule

October 10: West Indies vs Sri Lanka Pakistan vs Canada

October 11: Pakistan vs West Indies, Sri Lanka vs Canada

October 12: Pakistan vs Sri Lanka, West Indies vs Canada

October 13: Play off match for 3rd position and Final.