PCB awaits Windies nod for November Test series

Lahore, Sep 20 : With security fears forcing one tournament cancellation after another, an anxious Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is keeping its fingers crossed on a planned tour by the West Indies, who are yet to give their consent to play in this country.

The PCB has to wait until the end of this month to find out if the West Indies will agree to tour Pakistan in November to play two Tests.

The PCB has invited the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) to send the team for two Tests immediately after both countries play an ODI series in Abu Dhabi from November 12-16.

A senior PCB official said the board is still waiting for a response from their West Indian counterparts.

"As far as we know the chief executive of the West Indies board is out of office until next week and we are not expecting a final answer until the end of this month. But we are keeping our fingers crossed that they will accept our invitation," he said.

The WICB has said it will talk to its players association and get their consent before giving the Pakistan proposal the green signal, the Daily Times reported.

The PCB official said the board was also working on another plan to arrange a series with New Zealand, but since all teams were committed to the ICC Future Tours Programme, the board realised it was not easy to arrange the series at such short notice.

"But we are giving it our best shot because after the postponement of Australia's Test tour and the Champions Trophy our players are desperate to play international cricket," he said.

ANI