Windies opt out of 4-nation T20 event

Lahore, Sep 13 (UNI) The Paksitan Cricket Baord's (PCB) efforts to arrange some fill-gap series for their team have again received a setback as the West Indies have been replaced by minnows Zimbabwe in the proposed four-nation Twenty20 event to be held from October 10-13 in Canada.

The PCB had invited the West Indian team for Tests, one-day series, and the Twenty20 event but the Carribeans are relectuant to accept the offer due to their prior committments.

''The West Indies Board was reluctant to compete in the proposed event as they are planning for the Stanford multi-million dollars match against England and then for their tour of New Zealand so they were hesitant to send their team and as a result we have replaced them with Zimbabwe,'' said a source from Canada.

In this regard, Zimbabwe Cricket have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the organisers as the cricket-starved nation is elated to join the elite company of Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The fourth team in the event is Canada.

The said tournament was earlier scheduled for August 14-17 but was put off because of the non availability of the West Indies team.

UNI XC RKM AB DS1410