Pakistan set to play Australia at neutral venue ....

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TANGIERS, Morocco (Reuters) - Pakistan coach Mudassar Nazar says his team are prepared to play against Australia on neutral soil after the Australians cancelled their October test tour of Pakistan for security reasons.

“We want to play this series against such quality opposition, even if it has to be at a neutral venue,” Nazar told Reuters in Morocco, where Pakistan are taking part in a triangular one-day tournament.

“We do not want to miss out on this series. It is disappointing not being able to play at home, but our players have become accustomed to playing at neutral venues,” he added.

Australia announced in Melbourne on Friday that they had called off their three-Test tour of Pakistan planned for October because of security fears.

The announcement came on the same morning that a grenade attack on a missionary hospital near Islamabad killed three Pakistani nurses and injured another 23 people.

Security concerns had already been heightened when six Pakistanis were shot dead in an attack on a school for children of foreign missionaries near Islamabad on Monday.

The Australian Cricket Board (ACB) has said it hopes the series can be played on neutral soil, while the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has threatened an Asian cricket bloc boycott.

THINKING TWICE

“It is disappointing to face such a situation. I feel especially sorry for our people, but if I had been in Australia’s position, I would also have thought twice,” Nazar said.

A string of recent cricket tours to Pakistan have been affected due to safety fears.

The triangular one-day series has already been moved to Kenya, New Zealand pulled out of its tour after a bomb attack killed 11 French people in May and a tour by West Indies was played on neutral territory in Sharjah.

The ACB confirmed on Friday that their one-day series in Nairobi involving Kenya and Pakistan would proceed as planned starting on August 29.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Friday it would do its best to help Pakistan and Australia find an alternative venue for the series.

“We can’t afford to not play such a big series before the World Cup,” said Nazar. “The team is now in the habit of winning matches and this is the best time to face Australia.”

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Thank God better sense has prevailed.

The Pakistani Cricket Team needs to prove its prowess and this will be an ideal chance.

Best of luck to the Pakistani Team

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Morroco And Sharjah Available

**Tangiers and Sharjah are both available to host tests between Pakistan and Australia if the countries can agree on a neutral venue for the postponed series, the owner of both stadiums has said. **

On Friday, the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) cancelled the tour of Pakistan, which was scheduled to go ahead in October, for security reasons and proposed that a neutral venue could be found.

Abdurrahman Bukhatir, a businessman from the United Arab Emirates, was speaking in Tangiers on the eve of the city’s debut as an international venue with a triangular one day series between South Africa, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

“We are all hoping that cricket in Pakistan will resume soon because a team cannot keep playing home fixtures outside their own venues, but in the short term we have no problem at all,” he said. “I invite them to play, of course. Why not?”

“It’s not up to us but when they came to us for the West Indies series we said ‘fine, we’ll arrange it,’ but it’s up to Pakistan and Australia to decide where they want to play. But we can provide the facilities, no problem,” he added.

Sharjah, a tiny Emirate in the UAE which has been hosting international cricket for 20 years, was the venue for two tests between Pakistan and the West Indies earlier this year.

Although the brand new Tangiers Cricket Stadium has yet to prove itself as an international venue, all three visiting teams have expressed unreserved admiration for the facilities they have encountered so far.

“It’s a magnificent venue and easily up to international standard,” South African captain Shaun Pollock said ahead of Monday’s opening match against Pakistan, whose captain Waqar Younis concurred.

Waqar said on Saturday that his team would prefer to play the test series against Australia as close to home as possible and also expressed a desire to play in front of as large a crowd as possible.

POTENTIAL PROBLEM

Bukhatir readily conceded that this could be a problem in a country like Morocco, which does not have a long history as a cricketing nation.

“There always has to be a beginning,” he said. "We already have ten (domestic) teams playing in the league, in Casblanca, Rabat and Tangiers.

"There is a keen interest in those cities and although they are not yet properly ‘educated’ cricket places there is always a beginning.

"We also weren’t very happy with the reception shown by the crowds for the Pakistan/West Indies test matches.

"We can host test matches, no problem, but I don’t think we’ll get the crowds in the beginning.

“We have to wait until cricket gets into their blood, then they’ll come, but we have no problem in organising test matches,” Bukhatir said.

[This message has been edited by ehsan (edited August 11, 2002).]