International Cricket Council (ICC) Chairman Greg Barclay and Chief Executive Geoff Allardice are set to visit Pakistan on May 30 (Tuesday) for a two-day visit.
According to a press release issued by the Paki-stan Cricket Board (PCB), this will be Barclay’s first visit to Pakistan. He will also be the first ICC chairman to tour the country since former president Ray Mali’s visit in 2008.
“This will be the first time since October 2004 when both the top two ICC officials will together visit the Pakistan cricket headquarters,” the press release said, adding that Allardice has regularly visited the country — first as the ICC general man-ager (cricket) and then as the ICC chief executive.
The duo will arrive in Lahore on Tuesday morn-ing and meet PCB Management Committee Chair Najam Sethi, PCB Chief Operating Officer Barrister Salman Naseer, and other board officials.
The visit comes amid tensions between Pakistan and India on the Asia Cup and World Cup. Bilateral cricket has been a casualty of the soured political relations between India and Pakistan over the last decade and the neighbouring countries now play each other only in multi-team events in neutral venues.
India, citing safety concerns, have ruled out travelling to Pakistan for the Asia Cup in September and the PCB has offered to let them play their matches in the United Arab Emirates in what has been dubbed a “hybrid model”.
Meanwhile, Sethi has said there is a “very real possibility” that Pakistan will boycott this year’s World Cup if they lose hosting rights to the Asia Cup.—AFP
