Pakistan turn down Australia's plea to reschedule tour

The Pakistan Cricket Board has rejected Cricket Australia's (CA) request to reschedule the proposed Australian tour due to take place in February 2008 to August 2007. Australia are due to play three Tests and five one-day Internationals in Pakistan.

"CA had sent us a request that they would like to undertake their scheduled tour," a senior PCB official told The News. "But we've declined because the weather in August - specially in Punjab - is not conducive for international cricket."

Citing security reasons, the Australian team refused to play in Pakistan in 2002 and the series was shifted to two neutral venues - Colombo and Sharjah - with a subsequent tri-series in Nairobi.

The PCB official also informed the board is currently chalking out the programme for the next four years. "We are presently sitting down and chalking out a schedule for the next four years so that itineraries can be finalised well in advance unlike the past when these things happened too late."

Pakistan recently finalised the itinerary for the England series, which gets underway on October 26 and includes three Tests and five one-dayers. Pakistan are also scheduled to host India - the itinerary for which is yet to be agreed - besides staging the Asia Cup from mid-February next year.

Asked about India's agreement to play a Test and a one-dayer in Karachi, the PCB official said: "India are certain to play a Test in Karachi but they've to get the itinerary formally approved from some of their ministries before making a final announcement."