Pakistan confident of hosting Sri Lanka for ODI series

Karachi, Mar.19 : The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has expressed confidence about hosting a five-match one-day series at home against Sri Lanka later this week, though their a still some financial matters to be sorted between the two cricket boards.

Pakistan had asked the Sri Lankans to send their team here for a one-day series in April/May in a bid to fill in for the Australians, who backed out of their tour commitment citing security concerns.

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), the governing body of the game in the country, initially turned down the proposal, saying that their team was too busy with its international schedule.

But according to The News, after it received a renewed offer from the PCB earlier this month, it agreed to reconsider the proposal and now the issue is expected to be settled on the sidelines of an Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting to be held in Lahore later this week.

Arjuna Ranatunga, the SLC chairman, is to attend the ACC development meeting as the body's current chief. PCB officials are planning to use his visit to confirm the ODI series against Sri Lanka.

According to the PCB official, the only hitch in the series going ahead is that the Sri Lankans are asking for more money than the Board is willing to dish out for the brief tour. The official pointed out that since it will not be a part of the ICC Future Tour Programme (FTP), the PCB would have to pay the Sri Lankans appearance money to play the series.

Now according to ICC rules, a host country has to pay 150,000 dollars to a touring team for a single one-dayer. That means that the PCB has to pay 750,000 dollars for a five-match series.

According to the official, the PCB has no problems in paying that sum but Sri Lanka are asking for more.

They want Pakistan to also take care of the fees paid to their players. For a single match, the fee paid to the players comes down to about 40,000-50,000 dollars.

The PCB is hoping that the Sri Lankans will arrive here soon after Bangladesh leave after a 17-day tour that will involve five one-dayers and a Twenty20 International from April 6-22.

ANI