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government, the country’s Sports and Foreign minister has said.
The New Zealand government has approved a tour by the Zimbabwe cricket team, saying yesterday it would waive travel sanctions on teams from the African nation.
Zimbabwe are scheduled to play in New Zealand next year for the first time in 11 years and Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said the government would not block the tour.
With New Zealand due to visit Zimbabwe in October this year – it would be their first tour of the African nation since 2005 – it is expected that Zimbabwe will tour New Zealand for a reciprocal series next year.
Complicating the issue, however, is the New Zealand government’s travel sanction on sporting tours from Zimbabwe.
But Sports and Foreign minister Murray McCully told the Sunday Star Times on Saturday that a waiver would be given for the tour to go ahead despite the travel embargo.
McCully said visas would be granted to the cricketers and management conditional on the situation in Zimbabwe “not deteriorating in a significant way.”
A proposed tour of New Zealand by Zimbabwe in 2005 was cancelled when the government refused to grant the players visas.
“New Zealand Cricket has advised us of their intention to travel to Zimbabwe which, I think, is in October,” McCully said.
“They have asked us whether we have any concerns about that and, of course, made the point to us that the expectation will be that Zimbabwe is able to make a return visit.
“The return visit runs smack into the travel sanctions that operate in relation to sporting tours from Zimbabwe. So I have taken some advice from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and what I’ve said to New Zealand Cricket is that we have no concerns about them touring Zimbabwe.
“We have therefore adopted the position that we are prepared to issue visas for the Zimbabwe team to come to New Zealand and to provide an exemption from the sanctions for that purpose.
“That is all conditional, of course, on the situation in Zimbabwe not deteriorating in a significant way.”
If the tour does go ahead, it would mark the first time Zimbabwe will play in New Zealand for 11 years.
In 2005, the government refused to issue visas to the Zimbabwe team, resulting in the cancellation of that tour. That same year, New Zealand’s tour of Zimbabwe polarised opinion.
New Zealand Cricket resumed bilateral ties with Zimbabwe last year when a New Zealand A team went on tour.
“The situation (in Zimbabwe) is not fantastic, but there are aspects of stability there and our judgement is that we shouldn’t do anything to derail the planned sporting exchange,” McCully said.
Meanwhile, Pakistan are considering Zimbabwe as a potential “host” for the home series against Sri Lanka later this year.
The two sides are due to play a full Test and limited-overs series in October, scheduled in the FTP officially as a “home” series for Pakistan.
The PCB intensified efforts to find a venue for the series over the last few months and Sri Lanka itself is an option that has been considered, one Sri Lanka is probably happiest with. In 2009-10, Pakistan played a “home” series against New Zealand in New Zealand, though financially the trip wasn’t a success.
The PCB also asked Sri Lanka Cricket in May, “for their views” on the prospect of playing the series in Pakistan – at the insistence of the Pakistan government.
However, that offer was swiftly rebuffed. Soon after the PCB had made their request, a major terrorist attack occurred in Karachi at a naval base, which was eventually held under siege overnight, near the National Stadium.
The UAE is another option, having hosted a succession of Pakistan’s limited-overs commitments over the last three years and last October, a full series, including Tests, against South Africa.
Authorities in the UAE are keen for Pakistan to sign a long-term agreement with them to host their “home” matches, something the PCB is unwilling to do currently because they believe it pushes the prospect of a return of international cricket to Pakistan further back.
The financial aspects of a “host” venue have increasingly become a concern for the board; sponsorship opportunities may be greater in the UAE but the costs of hosting the series itself are likely to be much higher than Sri Lanka, for example, where marketing potential is relatively limited.
“We are looking at the costs right now of hosting a series in Zimbabwe,” a senior board official told ESPNcricinfo.
Peter Chingoka, ZC chairman, is also a member of the ICC’s Pakistan Task Team (PTT), a role which is likely to facilitate any such proposal.
Sri Lanka have not yet been formally contacted about this possibility.
Sri Lanka’s previous tour of Pakistan in March 2009 was cut short after terrorists attacked their team bus as it was on the way to the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore for the second Test.
That attack, on the back of growing security concerns over the previous two years, brought an end to international cricket in the country, taking away the 2011 World Cup in the process.
Since then, Pakistan have played home series in England, New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates.
Afghanistan were the first international team to tour Pakistan since the March 2009 attack, when they played Pakistan “A” in three 50-over games in May 2011. – AFP.