England and Pakistan will be landing in Dubai on February 16 to play two Twenty20 International on February 19 and 20 and both matches will be played in Dubai Sports City Stadium, an official from Dubai Sports City confirmed Cricdb.
Cricdb has learnt that the two-match series was infact purposed by the ICC task-force[headed by ECB Chairman Giles Clarke] to help Pakistan in funds raising as the cash-strapped Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) facing difficulties in generate revenues due to international teams' refusal to tour Pakistan because of security reasons.
Last year, the ICC moved the Champions Trophy from Pakistan to South Africa and India refused to tour Pakistan after the Mumbai terror attacks. And PCB revenues have fallen sharply after it was forced to stop hosting international matches due to ongoing security concerns.
PCB's chief Ijaz Butt said that its annual revenues fell by 71 percent as they lost $40 million in revenues from the loss of the India series alone.
With no scheduled Twenty20 internationals before the Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies in May, the England Board was eager to arrange two extra internationals in order to prepare for the T20 World Cup. The England team currently in South Africa will head to Dubai after concluding their tour. On other hand Pakistan finishing up their ongoing tour of Australia on February 5.
Dubai Sports City will also hosting England Lions and Pakistan A team from February 7 to 26 next year. They will be playing five one-dayer and 5 Twenty20s, scheduled for Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
© Cricdb
No comments:
Post a Comment