community.
“I would like to indicate to the world - especially the Test-playing nations - that Pakistan is a safe country to play cricket,” Manase said. “We need to encourage members of the ICC to relook at the position of not visiting Pakistan, and if they are watching how things have gone, they would realise that Pakistan, in the quest to have teams visit, have done great work to create an environment where cricket can be played safely.
“For the nations who remain skeptical, they should have sent some delegation to come and be part of this event and watch what is happening in Pakistan. That would have given them confidence. But wherever they are I believe they are watching. They are watching that the grounds are so full, they are watching the security given by the government and have understood Pakistan have the capacity to take any measures for the visiting team. I will brief them in the upcoming ICC meeting in Barbados.”
While the security detail for Zimbabwe’s tour of Pakistan has been extremely heavy -thousands of personnel being only one of the measures put in place - the visitors have also been warmly embraced by the people of Pakistan, who have expressed their gratitude with cheers and posters during the first two Twenty20 internationals in Lahore.
“We have been welcomed greatly by the general population of this country,” Manase said. “In actual fact the hospitality we have received here, we have not received anywhere in the word where we havegone to play cricket. We have felt safe here because the cricket board in conjunction with the government has made us feel secure.”
There had been reports that several Zimbabwe players were reluctant to tour Pakistan in the days before their scheduled departure to Lahore, but all 16 of the first-choice squad eventually made the trip. Manase said no one had any misgivings.
“I can tell you that players were never reluctant. They were always ready to go, we never had any dissent within,” Manase said.