DateLine: 20th February 2008

Media Release - 19 February 2008

Officials of Pakistan Cricket Board and Cricket Australia (CA) today met in Kuala Lumpur during the ICC Scheduling Summit to discuss the prospects of the scheduled Australia tour of Pakistan in March 2008.

All aspects connected with the tour were discussed at length and consensus reached on the following:

1. CA will send its recce team to Pakistan in early March to assess the venues and security arrangements.

2. Subject to appropriate security clearance and by mutual consent, the tour would be compressed and will be played tentatively between 29th March and 27th April 2008. It may be noted that the tour was initially scheduled to start on 10th March and end on 27th April.

On the occasion, Mr. Shafqat Naghmi, COO PCB stated "I am glad that we had very open and fruitful discussions with CA where we were assured that CA was committed to touring Pakistan".

Mr. James Sutherland, CEO CA stated "We remain committed to tour Pakistan this March/April. The PCB’s preparedness to take a flexible approach to this tour is much appreciated. The delay will certainly assist us to better assess the post-election situation in Pakistan."

While the dates of the tour have been agreed in principle, the contents and format of the tour itinerary will be finalized by cricket operations departments of both Boards in the next week.

Media Department

(Article: Copyright © 2008 Pakistan Cricket Board)