WELLINGTON – The New Zealand authorities are weighing up a politer way of turning down the offer of playing cricket in Pakistan for the first time in 15 years after an invitation from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
The development comes after Cricket Australia (CA) rudely indicated immediately after receiving the invitation that it won’t consider allowing any matches to be moved to Pakistan for their tour later this year to the United Arab Emirates.
“NZC has received a request from the PCB chairman [Najam Sethi] for New Zealand to play in Pakistan,” an NZC spokesperson said on Wednesday. “At the moment NZC is doing due diligence on the request and consulting with security providers, the government, and the players, on the appropriate time period to turn it down, such that it may be considered polite.”
“We will respond to the PCB when this process has been completed.”
The NZC spokesperson also criticised CA for being impolite in turning down the invitation without taking any time.
“One would’ve thought the ball tampering incident would’ve made them reconsider their rude behaviours with the rest of the world,” an official NZC statement read.
