ISLAMABAD: The Chair of the International Cricket Council, Greg Barclay, and ICC Chief Executive Geoff Allardice, concluded a two-day visit of Lahore and lauded Pakistan’s cricket facilities and programs on Thursday but did not comment on the country’s participation in this year’s 50-over World Cup in India.
Tense political relations between the two neighboring countries has seen both nations suspending their bilateral cricketing ties for a decade, but they have regularly competed in ICC events.
India has already declined to tour Pakistan for the Asia Cup in September which has not gone down well with the PCB. Sethi has proposed a hybrid model to the Asian Cricket Council in which Pakistan would host only four games, not featuring India, while the rest of the tournament will be organized at a neutral venue.
“During the pre-arranged two-day visit, Mr.Barclay and Mr.Allardice met with the Chair of the PCB Management Committee, Mr.Najam Sethi, and other PCB officials, and discussed wide-ranging matters of mutual interest around cricket, including promotion, growth and development,” a statement by PCB on Thursday said.
The statement made no mention of Pakistan’s participation in the World Cup. Dates and venues for the World Cup, to be played in October-November, will be announced after the World Test Championship (WTC) final in London from June 7.
“It has been great to be here. My approach has been to visit all the Member countries and see how cricket and cricket administration operates in their respective jurisdiction as every country and Member is different in terms of size, scale, economy and where they might sit in the cricketing hierarchy,” Barclay was quoted in the statement as saying.
“The cricket facilities in Pakistan and the cricket programs are great and now, that international cricket has returned to Pakistan and the PCB is able to successfully deliver bilateral arrangements at home, I think we’ll see Pakistan cricket reach another level for both men and women, and that will also have a positive impact in terms of commercial upside.”
He said the future for Pakistan in terms of female participation and international successes was “going to be huge in terms of potential.”
“From the ICC’s view, given that we have a strategy to grow the game globally, to see where the PCB fits in is also very pleasing. I am going to leave here well impressed with what I have seen,” Barclay said.
“The PCB looks forward to continuing our discussions and working closely with the ICC to put together global strategies and plans that are not only in the best interest of all its Members but also achieve the common objective of growing and developing the game by attracting new audience,” Sethi, who is also an ICC director, said.
Sethi said earlier this month there was a “very real possibility” of Pakistan boycotting the World Cup in India should PCB’s proposal to stage at least some Asia Cup matches on home soil not be accepted.
