The chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) Giles Clarke appeared confident of holding a five-match One-Day series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and then later a Test series between the two countries in Sri Lanka.
However, this plan is still not confirmed as the director of the ECB John Carr begged to differ with the chairman as he doubted the finalized schedule of the bilateral series the way it had been revealed by Clarke.
According to sources the series might be broken into two, with the ODIs taking place first, in UAE, and then later a two-Test match series in Sri Lanka.
However, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is also not sure about the workable schedule of the series and an official of the PCB, while commenting on the recent remarks by the ECB chairman said, “they have not confirmed this schedule, neither the venue nor the break up."
Meanwhile, according to insiders, the PCB has also not decided whether to play the series in the UAE. However, due to England’s refusal to play in Pakistan, the board does not have any other option but to hold the event at a neutral venue.
UAE’s cricketing facilities were used by the PCB last year in a series against South Africa and there is a possibility of doing it again, once it is confirmed that England are indeed going to play Pakistan.
An ODI series against Pakistan before Christmas will add great pressure on the newly appointed one-day skipper Alastair Cook, who will be leading his side in almost ten one-day matches in a span of six weeks against the likes of India and Pakistan.
Meanwhile, the PCB is under tremendous pressure to convince foreign teams to tour Pakistan but all efforts have failed and the country is yet to see a high profile international tournament to be played on home soil.
Foreign teams have refrained from playing in Pakistan since the 2009 terrorist attacks on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore. The attack injured seven Lankans and claimed the lives of eight Pakistanis.
It was only last month when the Afghan cricket team toured Pakistan since the fateful terrorist attack. However, the tour did not attract international attention and failed to convince other teams to follow suit.
