A stadium for Islamabad at last?

The long wait for an international-standard cricket stadium in Islamabad could be over soon, after the Pakistan Cricket Board agreed initial details with the local Capital Development Authority.

Shaharyar Khan, the chairman of the PCB, told reporters after inaugurating the Diamond Cricket Ground that Islamabad really needed a quality stadium. "The stadium will be built either on a short-term or long-term basis, and we have dispatched the Memorandum of Understanding."

He said that since the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium was not under the PCB's control, the Board was not in a position to make investments there. "Teams that play here have complained that the facilities at the stadium are inadequate. To improve the state of the stadium, the pavilion will have to be rebuilt - but we cannot do that unless and until we have the control of the venue."

Shaharyar disclosed that the PCB could soon be controlling the stadiums in Peshawar and Faisalabad. "Negotiations with the authorities there are on, and they are co-operating with us fully."