Venue of 'home' series remains undecided

ECB official confirms Pakistan close to finalising the UAE as venue.

LAHORE:

With less than four months remaining, Pakistan are yet to finalise a venue for their 'home series' against Sri Lanka.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), which was pondering over three different venues, has failed to reach an agreement to organise the series that comprises five One-Day Internationals (ODIs), three Test matches and a one-off Twenty20.

The series is scheduled for October and the PCB has currently been considering Sri Lanka, the UAE and Zimbabwe as possible options to host it. Mohammad Asif, a marketing agent from the UAE, has urged the PCB to finalise venue for the series as soon as possible.

"We admit Pakistan cricket is a sellable brand and we are happy to market it," Asif told The Express Tribune.

"Pakistan has a very great prospect in the UAE as the country has a healthy and rich cricket following but unfortunately the PCB marketing department accesses the UAE market in the latter half of the year when most of the top companies have already made their investments."

"So I urge the PCB to decide the venue quickly so that they are able to land lucrative deals which will help them make their offshore hosting a successful one."

An Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) official confirmed to The Express Tribune that PCB is close to finalising the deal to host the Sri Lanka series.

"I can confirm that communication has been going in the right direction but the deal is yet to be finalised," the official said. "ECB is very optimistic that Pakistan will be playing in the UAE."

Published in The Express Tribune, June 21^st, 2011.