The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced on Monday that New Zealand will tour Pakistan twice in 2022-23 to “make up for” the tour it abandoned in September this year, hours before the first match was scheduled to begin.
In a statement, the PCB said the Black Caps will initially tour Pakistan from December 2022 to January 2023 during which they will play two Test matches and three One-day Internationals (ODIs) as part of the Future Tours Programme.
“The two Tests and three ODIs will be part of the ICC World Test Championship and ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League, respectively,” the statement added.
New Zealand will then tour again in April 2023 when they will play 10 white-ball matches — five ODIs and five Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) — that will count towards the teams’ ICC rankings.
The arrangements for the tours were finalised after meetings between PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja and New Zealand Cricket (NZC) Chairman Martin Snedden, the statement said.
The two boards will continue to work together to finalise the series dates, which will be announced in due course, the PCB stated.
RAMIZ PLEASED: Reacting to the development, Raja said he was pleased with the outcomes of the discussions and negotiations with NZC and thanked the board’s chairman for their “understanding and support”.
“This reflects the strong, cordial and historic relations the two boards have and reconfirms Pakistan’s status as an important member of the cricket fraternity,” the statement quoted Raja as saying.
Meanwhile, NZC Chief Executive David White said, “it’s good to be going back,” adding that the board had fruitful and constructive conversations with Pakistan cricket authorities in Dubai which had “further strengthened the bond” between NZC and PCB.
The latest announcement means Pakistan will host eight Tests, 11 ODIs and 13 T20Is against Australia, England and New Zealand in the period from March 2022 to April 2023, according to the PCB.
The New Zealand cricket team had arrived in Pakistan on September 11 for the first time in 18 years to play three ODIs and five Twenty20 Internationals.
The Kiwis had, however, devastated Pakistan’s cricket fraternity on Sept 17 by opting out of their tour of Pakistan minutes before the first ODI was to be played. They had cited a ‘security threat’ as the reason without divulging any further information. The tour cancellation was followed by England also deferring their tour.
New Zealand Cricket Chief Executive White had later said that he had “no option” but to abandon the tour of Pakistan after receiving advice from the New Zealand government of a ‘specific, credible threat’.
The PCB had said that Pakistan had “foolproof security arrangements for all visiting teams” and had “assured NZC of the same”.
In October, the PCB chairman had announced that the New Zealand cricket board was working on a new schedule to tour Pakistan.
