BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Cricket West Indies (CWI) Chief Executive Officer Johnny Grave says plans for the regional side’s tour of Pakistan are on track.
He dismissed reports on the Mason and Guest radio programme this week that the six-match tour, which begins December 13, was possibly in trouble.
Responding to host Andrew Mason who suggested there were rumours of challenges, Grave said he spoke to CWI’s security consultant earlier this week and there were plans to meet with the players to go through the medical and security plans.
“Everything is moving ahead as planned,” he said.
“The Pakistan tour is on. We’ve had the security reports in, we’ve had confirmation of the security plan from the PCB [Pakistan Cricket Board]. The team will get the same presidential-style security, the highest level of security provisions that any team can get when touring,” Grave insisted, adding that flights have been booked and the squads will be announced before the second Test against Sri Lanka which begins on Monday.
West Indies Women recently completed a successful tour in Karachi, winning all three ODIs, as they prepared for the Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifiers.
West Indies Men will play three T20 Internationals and three ODIs against Pakistan at the National Stadium in Karachi from December 13 to 22.
The ODI Series will be West Indies’ fourth series of 12 in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League in which the top seven teams can secure automatic qualification for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 in India.
This will be the West Indies’ first tour of Pakistan since April 2018 when three T20Is were contested. The two-time former world champions will be playing ODIs in Pakistan for the first time since December 2006.
The squad is scheduled to arrive in Karachi on December 9, ahead of the first T20I on December 13. The second match will be played the following day and the third on December 16.
The ODIs are set for December 18, 20 and 22.