Lahore, Nov 28: New Zealand's cricket team arrived in Pakistan in the early hours today and headed to a hotel under the guard of elite police commandos at the start of the squad's 11-day tour. Security was extraordinarily tight for the New Zealanders in hopes of having the team complete its first Pakistan tour in more than two years. In May of last year, a bomb exploded outside the team's hotel in Karachi, killing 14 people. Nobody on the team was injured but the squad aborted the tour.

This year's trip was delayed for one week when New Zealand diplomats received an e-mail threatening the team's safety during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which ended two days ago. The team decided to push ahead, with a delayed scheduled, after receiving security assurance from international cricket officials.

New Zealand will play five one-day internationals against Pakistan, starting tomorrow at Gaddafi Stadium here, followed by a second at the same venue on Monday.

The third one-day of this year's tour will be held in Faisalabad on Wednesday, followed by back-to-back one-day internationals at Rawalpindi on December 5 and 7. Lahore and Rawalpindi will host day-and-night games while Faisalabad's one-dayer will be a day match.

Bureau Report