Pakistan ponder scrapping Zimbabwe Tests

The Pakistan Cricket Board is reported to be having serious doubts about going ahead with this October's planned home series against Zimbabwe.

The PCB will discuss Zimbabwe's status at this month's ICC meeting in London, and while it has not yet formally made any overtures to the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, sources close to the board indicate that there is a growing feeling that the tour should be scrapped.

Officially, Rameez Raja, the PCB's chief executive, maintained that the series was on, although he admitted that "We are waiting and watching. We have some other options in mind that we will put forward to the ICC board this month if the crisis in Zimbabwe cricket is not resolved."

Unofficially, the PCB is believed to be looking at the international schedule to see who can be lineed up to replace Zimbabwe. The PCB is committed under its existing television contracts to schedule a certain number of home series each year, and so needs an alternative.

West Indies and Sri Lanka are free to step in, and were England to withdraw from their own tour to Zimbabwe, they could be looking for something to fill the void before they travel to South Africa. A multinational one-day tournament could be the solution.

Another option would be for Zimbabwe to be included in the one-day tournament, a compromise which would be acceptable to the ZCU. "We would be amenable to that" Vince Hogg, its chief executive, told the AFP news agency. "We haven't discussed it yet with the PCB, but I'm sure that would be a practicable course to take."

The source told Pakistan's The News that the PCB was "not keen on playing a Test series against a depleted Zimbabwe side, and will ask the ICC to reschedule the Test series instead of playing against a second-string side."