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Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE Cricket chairman Tavengwa Mukuhlani has described the visit to Pakistan as productive with the invitation to tour the civil war torn country to be handled by the organisation’s operations department.
Mukuhlani visited Pakistan together with Minister of Sport and Recreation, Makhosini Hlongwane. They watched the Pakistan Premier League final last Sunday at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore before they engaged in talks with Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shahryar Khan as well as the Asian country’s Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada.
“Our visit was fruitful in that there are issues of security in Pakistan which is a concern, we watched the final, in a game situation and we were able to assess the security set up first hand. We had discussions around bilateral tours. Their Minister of Sport invited Zimbabwe to tour Pakistan, our cricket operations will look at when the team can tour Pakistan, the two ministers spoke of reciprocal tours between the two countries. Pakistan is immediately ready to host our Under-19, Zimbabwe A and our women team,’’ said Mukuhlani.
He believes that prior to the senior team going on tour, security must be assessed by experts in that field and the necessary clearances obtained from the Sports and Recreation Commission, ZC board as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Security is a fluid thing, it’s not an event, we were happy with what we saw, we have appreciated the security framework they are using for games. Our security people must go and verify if the security is in place just before our senior team goes on tour.
The framework they used makes us confident they can handle a match. If our team has to go all the boxes must be ticked, SRC, Foreign Affairs, people with security knowledge must give us the go ahead. What we witnessed on 5th of March gives us confidence Pakistan can handle security but before our team goes there all the essential boxes must be ticked. ZC cricket operations will get together and see when it feasible,’’ Mukuhlani said.
On relations between Zimbabwe and Pakistan, Mukuhlani said the two countries have always enjoyed friendly association with support for one another at International Cricket Council level. The main reason for Mukuhlani and Hlongwane going to Pakistan was to share ideas with their counterparts on the proposed changes to the ICC constitution to be tabled in April which if passed would see members having their status coming under review every two years which can be a huge threat to Zimbabwe who have not performed well on the international scene for over a decade.
“There has always been a cordial relationship between Pakistan, even at ICC Pakistan have always been our friends. The invite came through from them for the ZC chairman and the Minister. We negotiated for a reciprocal bilateral tours between the two countries,’’ said Mukuhlani.
In a statement last Thursday, Hlongwane expressed satisfaction that Pakistan has the capacity to host international matches and commended the hard work the Islamic state’s government for continually improving the situation.
Zimbabwe became the first ICC Full Member country to tour Pakistan in May 2015 since gunmen attacked a bus carrying the Sri Lankan team in March 2009. From then, no ICC Full Member had embarked on a tour of Pakistan with the Asians forced to play their home matches at a neutral venue in United Arab Emirates. The Zimbabwe visit of Pakistan was made up of two Twenty20 Internationals and three One Day Internationals.
Former ZC chairman Wilson Manase was handed a four year sports administration ban by the SRC for embarking on that tour without being sanctioned by the supreme sports governing body in Zimbabwe. Manase challenged that ban at the Administrative Court which put aside the ruling but the SRC has since appealed that judgment at the Supreme Court.
— @Mdawini_29
Online Reporter