Australia Tour of Pakistan On Track, Says Chief Selector George Bailey

Last year, New Zealand and England were to tour Pakistan but pulled out citing security concerns. The Kiwis withdrew at the final moment.

Australian cricket team, Pic Courtesy: AFP

New Delhi: The Australia tour of Pakistan is set to take place as planned, according to national selector George Bailey. None of the players have expressed any reservation against the tour so far, said Bailey in a press conference in Australia.

 

Bailey termed the security plans for the tour in Pakistan as 'very, very robust and very, very thorough'. 

 

He further said, "I believe the boards are still working through some of the minor details around that tour, so once that gets the formal tick of approval then we'll announce the squad post that, but we're reasonably well down the track."

 

Notably, Pakistan has not got the opportunity to host an ICC event on its soil after it co-hosted the 1996 World Cup along with India and Sri Lanka. And the terror attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in 2009 diminished any hopes of International Test matches being played in the country until 2019.

 

Last year, New Zealand and England were to tour Pakistan but pulled out citing security concerns. The Kiwis withdrew at the final moment.

 

However, an ICC tournament in Pakistan looks on track with Australia confident of the security arrangements. And if Australia agrees, it will be their first tour of the Asian nation in 24 years. The last time that the Australian cricket team played in Pakistan was in 1998 under the captaincy of Mark Taylor.

 

The Australia tour of Pakistan is expected to start in March and consist of three Test matches that will be played in Karachi, Rawalpindi and Lahore. A three-match ODI series and a T20I is also expected to be in the fixture of the tournament.