The Canadian cricket board has shown interest to visit in May, at a time when Pakistan team would be playing against Sri Lanka in Colombo and with the busy schedule of the team the tour would possibly take place in September.
The Canadian cricket team, in reply to Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) offer to tour the country. However, the Pakistan Cricket Board has thanked Cricket Canada for their interest in sending their cricket team to Pakistan.
“The PCB believes in strengthening the relationship further between the two boards in a manner beneficial for both the boards,” said a board official. The PCB is working on modalities of the proposition and tentatively we are aiming the tour to get materialized after September 2012.
The PCB has said that Pakistan cannot play any home matches before September due to their busy schedule. Pakistan is heading to Colombo on May 19 to play against Sri Lanka. The Canadian cricket board has also requested the PCB to allow Pakistani cricketers to play in the Toronto Twenty 20 tournament, as PCB had earlier refused to provide No Objection Certificate (NOC) to six players.
Following the postponement of the Bangladesh tour last month, the PCB had planned to host a tri-series featuring Afghanistan and Canada in an effort to revive international cricket in the country. It would be the first foreign team to travel to Pakistan, more than three years after international matches were halted in the troubled country.
The PCB said the visit would help reestablish the country as a safe venue for sport. A deadly militant attack on the Sri Lankan team bus during the Lahore Test in March 2009 made Pakistan a no-go zone for international teams, but the PCB has been trying to entice sides back to the cricket-mad but unstable country.
Canada is an associate member of the International Cricket Council, not a full Test-playing nation, but took part in the 2011 World Cup and lost to Pakistan in the group stage.
Former PCB chairmen had advised the board to work on associate members rather than bigger teams in their efforts to revive international cricket.
