Cricket Ireland welcome news of a possible invitation to tour Pakistan

Waseem Ahmed 12:02 09/05/2018
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  • PCB could invite Ireland to tour Pakistan later this year.

    Ireland will be invited to tour Pakistan later this year if the latest reports are anything to go by. Ireland are all set to take on Pakistan in their historic first-ever Test starting from Friday at the Malahide Cricket Stadium in Dublin.

    According to a report in the Daily Express, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Najam Sethi will be present in Dublin for the match and will officially invite Ireland to tour the country.

    Ireland had previously agreed to tour Pakistan in 2014 but then backed out after an attack on the Karachi airport.

    Meanwhile, Cricket Ireland high-performance director Richard Holdsworth has welcomed news of a possible invitation to Pakistan though he has pointed out the security will play a key role in the decision.

    “That’s great news if that’s the case, but we are not aware of that yet,” Holdswroth told the Irish Times.

    “The PCB have been very supportive of us over the years in Ireland, they’ve travelled here several times for one-day series and obviously now this historic Test.

    Pakistan will become Ireland's first-ever Test opponents come Friday.

    Pakistan will become Ireland’s first-ever Test opponents come Friday.

    “So, of course we would want to help them in their way back to international cricket at home. As we did last time, we’ll look at the situation, look at the security. They’ve now had a couple of teams go there recently, which is obviously very encouraging for them and their cricket. And we know what their supporters are like, they’ve been starved of international cricket at home for a long time.

    “So, for us, to help play a part in that would be wonderful but we need to obviously look at the situation, talk with them, get advice as we’ve done before and discuss it with our players, which will be the key part of it.”

    Though Pakistan have had to play most of their home matches in the UAE since the attacks on the Sri Lankan team bus in 2009, international cricket has returned to the country in a small way in recent times.

    The ICC World XI played a historic T20 series in Lahore last year while Sri Lanka and West Indies have also toured Pakistan for bilateral matches.

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