Cape Town – Zimbabwe will fly to Pakistan on Sunday for a limited-overs tour, their coach Dav Whatmore told Reuters.
The tour, the first in six years by a test-playing nation to Pakistan, was thrown in doubt this week when a terrorist attack on a bus killed about 47 people in Karachi.
Despite this, the International Cricket Council (ICC) will not be sending match officials to Pakistan for the tour of Zimbabwe, the governing body said on Sunday.
“The tour is going ahead and we leave tonight,” Whatmore said via telephone from Harare before reconfirming his belief the tour would be successful and that security measures put in place by Pakistan will be adequate.
Zimbabwe will play two Twenty20 internationals, starting on Friday, May 22, and a three-match one-day series that begins four days later. All the matches are in Lahore.
Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) released a statement on Thursday saying a decision had been reached not to tour on the advice of the country's supreme sports regulatory authority, the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC).
The SRC cited concerns over the safety of the squad.
However, just minutes later the statement was withdrawn and ZC spokesman Lovemore Banda said discussions were still ongoing.
It is understood that concerns also emanated from the players themselves, some of who were reluctant to travel but have now been persuaded to tour after additional security measures were announced by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
Those were still deemed not good enough for the ICC, though, which released a statement on Sunday saying they would not be sending match officials for the series.
They cited a report by a security consultant who advised against sending a team of officials to the country.
The ICC said the PCB would have to appoint its own officials, but that this would not affect the status of the games which would remain as full internationals.
Zimbabwe are the first test-playing nation to tour Pakistan since a 2009 gun attack on Sri Lanka’s team bus in Lahore left six Pakistani policemen and a van driver dead. Some players and a local umpire were injured.
The ICC said a security consultant had advised against sending officials to Pakistan, who will instead use their own umpires for the matches if Zimbabwe decide to tour the trouble-torn nation.
The appointment of local match officials will not affect the official status of the games, the ICC said in a statement.
“The ICC today advised the PCB and Zimbabwe Cricket that it will not be appointing its match officials for the upcoming series between Pakistan and Zimbabwe,” the statement read.
“The ICC board, during its April meeting, had decided that the playing conditions relating to the appointment of match officials could be waived to allow the PCB to appoint local match officials for this series should the ICC decide not to send its umpires and referee due to the current security situation in Pakistan.
“If this was to occur, the matches would still be considered ‘official cricket’, even though they will not be played strictly in accordance with the ICC standard playing conditions.”
Although the PCB claimed on Friday they had received an assurance from ZC that the tour was on, Zimbabwe continue to say only that discussions are ongoing.
Whatmore, who coached Pakistan in the past, took to Twitter on Sunday to suggest the team would travel.
“Looking fwd to returning to Pakistan as opposition coach and reacquainting with friends. Team zim are & will be working hard for a win!” he said from his official account.
A ZC delegation which visited Lahore, the venue for all matches on the tour, approved security measures put in place by local authorities last week.
But the terror attack in Karachi led Zimbabwe’s SRC to advise the tour be cancelled. – Reuters