Pakistan to tour Zimbabwe

Telegraph

By Telegraph staff and agencies

22 March 2011

Pakistan’s World Cup win over Australia has restored the team’s battered image and boosted their credentials as champions-in-waiting, according to captain Shahid Afridi.

Pakistan beat Australia by four wickets to end the defending champions’ unbeaten 34-match streak in the World Cup stretching back to 1999.

It also meant Pakistan finished top of Group A and gave them a quarter-final clash against the West Indies in Dhaka on Wednesday while Australia tackle India in Ahmedabad on Thursday.

“We knew that beating Australia would be very important for us and this win has enhanced our image, sending a good signal to the cricket world that we can win despite our difficult situation,” Afridi said.

Pakistan entered the tournament on the back of a spot-fixing scandal which led to lengthy bans on former Test captain Salman Butt and pacemen Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer.

“Despite all our problems Pakistan is blessed with talent and it’s because of this talent that we are a dangerous team and can win against anyone. We now hope to carry on the momentum,” Afridi said.

“They have qualified for the quarter-finals after some good play, so we have to do well in all three departments because it’s a knockout stage from here,” Afridi, the leading wicket-taker with 17 in six matches so far, added.

“Our focus is on the quarter-final, we have to win that to reach the semi-final, so we are not thinking that far. First we have to win a must-win match against a dangerous opponent.”

Bangladesh has promised to ramp up security to ‘state-level’ for the West Indies team in an attempt to ensure the quarter-final passes off trouble-free, a senior police officer said on Monday.

Bangladeshi officials are keen to avoid a repeat of the embarrassing March 4 incident, when an angry mob pelted the West Indies team bus with stones.

Dhaka police commissioner Benazir Ahmed told AFP the West Indies team would be provided with the “highest security” possible when they arrive later Monday and police would made sure there was no “crowd trouble”.

“The West Indies are our valued guests and we will ensure the highest state-level security to them. It’s a state-level commitment. We shall make sure that there is no crowd along the key parts of the road to the stadium,” he said. “They can be assured of foolproof security,” he added.

Zimbabwe will host a Test match against Pakistan in August, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Monday.

Zimbabwe, who have not played Test cricket since 2005 after suspending their status due to political problems in the country, are due to play a test match and two one-day internationals against Pakistan.

“We will be touring Zimbabwe in August to play the lone test and ODIs and we then host Sri Lanka for a future tours program series,” a PCB official said.

The Zimbabwe cricket union voluntarily suspended its Test status in 2006 when the country was engulfed in political turmoil, forcing many leading players to retire from international cricket.

Zimbabwe sports minister David Coltart has defended the decision for the national team to return to Test cricket this year amid criticism over their performance at the World Cup.

Zimbabwe lost to Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to crash out of the World Cup in the group stage.

Coltart claimed the players’ abilities aren’t particularly conducive to doing well in one-day cricket, saying “in 2004 and 2005 when we stopped playing tests, we did not play a lot of four-day cricket. We now do.”