PCB awaits Windies nod for November tour

With security fears forcing one tournament cancellation after another, an anxious Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is keeping its fingers crossed on a planned tour by West Indies, who are yet to give their consent on playing in the country.

The PCB has to wait until the end of this month to find out if West Indies will agree to tour Pakistan in November to play two Tests. The PCB has invited the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) to send their team for two Tests immediately after both countries play a one-day series in Abu Dhabi from November 12-16.

A senior PCB official said the board was still waiting for a response from their West Indian counterparts. "As far as we know the chief executive of the West Indies board is out of office until next week and we are not expecting a final answer until the end of this month. But we are keeping our fingers crossed they will accept our invitation," he said.

The WICB has said it would talk to its players association and get their consent before giving the Pakistan proposal the green signal.

The PCB official said the board was also working on another plan to arrange a series with New Zealand but since all teams are pre-committed to the ICC Future Tours Program, the board realised it was not easy to arrange the series at a short notice. "But we are giving it our best shot because after the postponement of the Australia's Test tour and the Champions Trophy our players are desperate to play some international cricket," he said.