Zimbabwean paper claims Pakistan tour still on

HARARE: Zimbabwe’s tour of Pakistan will proceed as scheduled, a newspaper in the country revealed on Friday.

‘The Herald’ which is the country's largest daily newspaper reported that Pakistani authorities had provided new guarantees regarding the safety of the Zimbabwean cricket team. The paper quoted a source saying: “word from Pakistan is that all mountains will be moved to ensure that the Zimbabwe team is safe.”

The source further told the newspaper that there were concerns following the attack in Karachi on Wednesday but the team would travel to Pakistan and "there was no reason to suggest that security would be compromised."

The tour was thrown into limbo on Thursday when Zimbabwe first cancelled but then retracted their decision within 16 minutes in a bizarre turnaround on Thursday.

Zimbabwe Cricket initially released a statement saying that a decision had been reached not to tour on the advice of the country's supreme sports regulatory authority, the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC).

The SRC had previously cited concerns over the safety of the touring party.
But after the news release was issued, the statement was withdrawn and Zimbabwe Cricket spokesman Lovemore Banda told Reuters that discussions were still on-going.

"At this time the tour has not been suspended. The executive and board of Zimbabwe Cricket are still in discussions," he said.

Banda would not put a time frame on when a decision would be made, saying only that it would be announced "as soon as the discussions are finalised".

Zimbabwe are scheduled to arrive on May 19 and play two Twenty20 internationals on May 22 and 24 and three one-day internationals on May 26, 29 and 31. All matches are to be played in Lahore.

No Test team has visited Pakistan since militants attacked the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in 2009.

A five-man security delegation from Zimbabwe last week toured Lahore to assess the security arrangements and have briefed their government.

Earlier, Zimbabwe cricket authorities said Thursday they were examining a report on the safety of playing in Pakistan.

Security concerns rose further on Wednesday when gunmen attacked a passenger bus and killed at least 43 people in the southern city of Karachi.

"Zimbabwe Cricket is currently considering a report by its advance team that went to Pakistan last week and returned on Friday," Lovemore Banda, Zimbabwe Cricket spokesman said.