Australia unlikely to tour Pakistan anytime soon: CA ›
We only consider security issues in a country when we’re due to tour there. And when that country advises us of the preferred place to host us
NEW DELHI: Pakistan may have been celebrating the ‘return of cricket’ in their country after successfully organising the first two matches of their threematch series against the International Cricket Council (ICC) World XI, but there is still a lot left to be done to get other teams to tour.
Zimbabwe had toured Pakistan amid heavy security back in 2015, and Lahore has been converted into a fortress for the ongoing Independence Cup which is currently levelled at 1-1 with one more game left.
Pakistan will also be hosting Sri Lanka for one T20I later this year, but as far as Australia are concerned, the possibility of their team travelling is not in consideration as of now.
Interestingly, as many as three Australians — former captain George Bailey, Tim Paine and Ben Cutting — are in the ICC World XI squad whose participation is marking the return of cricket to Pakistan. WORK NEEDS TO BE DONE IN TESTS: ARTHUR Mickey Arthur believes Pakistan have made “significant strides” in one-day international cricket since his appointment as head coach, but admits there is work to do in the Test arena.
The experienced South African took charge in May 2016 with his new employers languishing down in ninth place in the ICC ODI rankings.
“We’ve almost come full circle. When I took over a yearand-a-bit ago, the emphasis was on one-day cricket, because that’s where we were lagging,” he said.
“We’ve made significant strides in that area with our brand of cricket. Players certainly are playing with a lot more sense of freedom, with us looking to strike with the ball, particularly in those middle overs, and our fielding.
The Test team was very settled [when I took over]. It was just a continuation, and we had that fantastic series against England [in 2016].
Now, though, the wheel has turned. Our one-day team seems pretty settled and is going in the right direction in terms of our brand, but we sit with a Test team that we need to develop, primarily in the batting.