Two officials of the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) board will travel to Pakistan and watch their final ODI against Zimbabwe on Sunday.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has invited officials from the ICC and several cricket boards including Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh to oversee the security arrangements they have made for the visiting Zimbabwe team. No BCCI official has plan to visit Pakistan at this stage, however, Sidath Wettimuny, the chairman of the SLC has accepted the invitation.
“Yes, I have accepted the invitation and possible with one more member, will leave Friday night”, Wettimuny, speaking exclusively over telephone from Colombo, confirmed.
The PCB, after the possible successful tour by Zimbabwe, is desperate to have resumption of game in Pakistan. Till the recent series against Zimbabwe, no Full Member has ever sent team to Pakistan following the terrorism attack on visiting Sri lankan team in March 2009.
Wettimuny is likely to assess the situation in Pakistan before deciding to send Sri Lanka team.
The PCB has announced that their forthcoming bilateral series against India will be played in UAE.
Hamilton Masakadza new captain
In the meantime, the Zimbabwean team for the last two ODIs’ is likely to be led by their stand-in skipper Hamilton Masakadza. This was revealed by their chief executive officer Wilfred Mukondiwa. “The stand in captain will be Hamilton Masakadza”, he said from Harare.
The regular captain Elton Chigumbura has been suspended for two ODIs for maintaining a slow over-rate during the first one-dayer against Pakistan in Lahore on May 26. The decision was taken after the consultations between the local Match-referee Azhar Khan and the ICC’s remote match-referee Roshan Mahanama.
It could not be confirmed whether Elton Chigumbura would return early or stay with the team till the tour is over.
