UAE matches not to be moved to Pakistan: CA

LAHORE: Cricket Australia has indicated it won’t consider allowing any matches to be moved to Pakistan from the United Arab Emirates for their tour later this year.

New Zealand Cricket officials confirmed they had been approached by Pakistani authorities to move Twenty20 matches to the country at the end of the year, from the UAE.Australia are also due to play Pakistan in September and October, with three Tests drafted in for the UAE on yet-to-be-confirmed dates.

According to reports, a request has been made to CA to move the T20 match to Pakistan, following in the footsteps of Sri Lanka and West Indies in the past year.International cricket has barely been played in Pakistan since 2009, after an attack on the Sri Lankan team bus.

Zimbabwe were the first team to return to the country in 2015, while Sri Lanka played a T20 last October in Lahore, before the West Indies played a three-match series last month in Karachi.

But a CA spokesman said they were not considering moving any matches.“The safety and security of Australian players is our number one priority,” the spokesman said.“From an Australia team perspective, we are not contemplating moving our current bilateral-tour arrangements from taking on Pakistan in the Middle East, when they host the next series.”

Australia haven’t played in Pakistan since 1998, and the two countries have since used the UAE, England and Sri Lanka as neutral venues during tours.Meanwhile, a New Zealand spokesman confirmed they were investigating whether they were willing to play their T20 series later this year in Pakistan.