Kenya are set to tour Pakistan next month for a series of five one-dayers against Pakistan A at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. The tour will hold considerable significance for Pakistan, as the PCB looks to break their isolation as an international venue.
Kenya will arrive in Lahore on December 11 and will play the five games between December 13 and 20, before leaving on 21st. “The entire series would consist of day matches, and shall be spread over 45 overs each”, Zakir Khan, chairman of the organising committee for the series and PCB’s director, international cricket, said.
The PCB had invited Kenya, and the two boards discussed holding the series in November initially, before the tour was postponed as the PCB waited for government clearance. For Kenya, the series will help them prepare for the ICC World Cricket League Division Two event in January, in Windhoek, Namibia.
Pakistan has been a no-go zone for major international cricket since gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan team bus in March 2009. Kenya are the second Associate country Pakistan have invited over in the last six months. Ireland had been invited earlier and had been willing to tour Pakistan in September, but the terrorist attacks in and around Karachi airport in June ruled out the proposition. The PCB had also asked Sri Lanka to come over earlier this year, without much result.
