PCB open to play home ODI series against Australia in Oz

Lahore: The Pakistan Cricket Board is mulling the option of playing its home ODI series against Australia later this year in Australia after ruling out UAE as the possible neutral venue.

A PCB official confirmed that the venues for the ODI series are yet to be finalised and they were looking at several options to organise the matches. "Australia is one of the option as cricket is played in Darwin and Cairns in August in Australia," the official said. He said besides Australia other options understudy were Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and South Africa. "Yes South Africa has offered to host the series which may be extended to have more T20 matches because of this year`s T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka. But we have to look mainly at the cost of hosting the series while deciding on the venues," he said. The PCB official admitted that until now Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah were comfortable neutral options for them considering the cost issues and also because of the cooperation they got from the emirates cricket authorities. "But unfortunately in August the weather is not suitable for cricket in UAE and it will also be the month of Ramazan," he noted. "That is why UAE is not an option for the Australia series. Holding the matches in Australia is a strong possibility but first we have to discuss things with Cricket Australia." Another source aware of the ongoing developments, however, believed that PCB might select Sri Lanka as the neutral venue to host the ODI series against Australia. "The reason is because Pakistan is already due to tour Sri Lanka later this summer for a Test series and secondly the T20 World Cup is also being held there. So they are lot of advantages of playing Australia in the island nation," the source said. PTI