ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s interior minister has invited the England cricket team to tour the country for the first time since 2005, after a successful visit by the West Indies amid improved security boosted hopes of an international revival.
A visit by a major Test-playing nation such as England would be hugely significant, in terms of both cricket as well as Pakistan’s wider security and the message it hopes to send about its crackdown on extremism and militancy.
Interior minister Ahsan Iqbal extended the invitation to UK High Comissioner Thomas Drew on Tuesday, urging the international community to recognize the strides Pakistan has made.
“The successful staging of international matches in Pakistan is a clear proof that we have defeated terrorism and extremism,” he said, according to an official statement.
Drew said he was already looking forward to “this summer’s big cricketing event,” Pakistan’s upcoming England tour.
“But I also hope that it will not be long before I can welcome an England team to Pakistan,” he told AFP Wednesday. “That really is something to look forward to.”
For years foreign teams refused to tour Pakistan, wracked by Islamist attacks. In 2009 an attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore drove international cricket from the country entirely, and their fixtures have been played in the UAE.
But security has improved dramatically in recent years, and since 2015 Pakistan has hosted Zimbabwe, a World XI, Sri Lanka, the finals of its domestic T20 league for two years running and, most recently, the West Indies, for a short T20 series which finished on Tuesday.
The matches have been staged in both Lahore and Karachi, the cricket-obsessed country’s two largest cities, both of which have been hit repeatedly by militant violence over the last decade.
Head-of-state level security has been provided for visiting players, most of whom have come away praising the arrangements.
Various military operations across the country have led to the increased security, particularly in the northwestern tribal region, where militants once operated with impunity.
But the US maintains that Pakistan is hosting militant safe havens in the northwest, accusations Islamabad denies; while critics warn that the country has not gone far enough in rooting out the long-term causes of extremism.
Pakistan invites England cricket team back after 13 years
Pakistan invites England cricket team back after 13 years
- England have not not toured there since 2005
- Visiting players enjoy head-of-state level security
Rybakina has little hope of change to tennis schedule
- Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina said Friday she agreed with Aryna Sabalenka’s description of the tennis schedule as “insane” — but does not see it changing
BRISBANE: Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina said Friday she agreed with Aryna Sabalenka’s description of the tennis schedule as “insane” — but does not see it changing.
Speaking after her surprise loss to Karolina Muchova in the Brisbane International, world number five Rybakina said Sabalenka’s criticism of the packed WTA Tour calendar was correct.
WTA rules stipulate that top players must play all four Grand Slams, 10 WTA 1000 events and six WTA 500 tournaments, unless they have a valid reason such as injury.
Players who don’t meet these requirements risk being fined.
Sabalenka said Thursday that she was prepared to be punished by the WTA in order to rest her body and not risk injury.
“The season is definitely insane,” four-time Grand Slam champion Sabalenka said.
Rybakina, who beat Sabalenka to win last year’s season-ending WTA Finals, said players should be able to choose their schedules more freely.
“We all want to have more freedom of choosing what to play, what not to play,” said the Moscow-born Kazakh, the 2022 Wimbledon winner.
“You’re kind of forced to play most of the tournaments, so it is not ideal.
“You don’t need to force anyone to play so many tournaments since it’s so tough on the body.
“It’s not easy to show the same good results, be healthy all the time.
“But it’s a topic which we have had for a long time, and I don’t see much changing.”
The WTA told AFP in October that “athlete welfare is always a top priority.”
