Zimbabwe to tour Pakistan next year after elections

KARACHI, Nov 27 (Reuters) Zimbabwe will tour Pakistan after the host country's general elections on January 8 to play five one-day internationals, a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official said today.

The official told Reuters that at the request of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, which has had its test status suspended since 2005, the team would play a four-day and three-day game before the one-day series.

''They want their players to get exposure in the longer duration of the game as they are not playing tests at the moment,'' the official said.

The one-day internationals will be staged in Karachi, Hyderabad, Multan, Faisalabad and Sheikhupura.

The official said the itinerary for the Australian team's tour to Pakistan in March-April next year would be completed after a visit by a delegation of Cricket Australia following the elections.

The Australian Cricketers' Association have said they are worried about security arrangements in Pakistan because of the political upheaval since the introduction of emergency rule.

Australia are due to arrive in Pakistan on March 10 to play three tests, five one-dayers and a Twenty20 international.

''We are not worried because their tour is still some months away and by that time the elections would have been held and things would have settled down politically,'' the PCB official said.

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