The South African men’s national cricket team could be among the first to tour Pakistan in 2021.
International cricket has been quite rare in the country since a terrorist attack on a touring Sri Lanka side in 2009 prompted a decade-long gap between Tests played on Pakistani soil.
Pakistan look to welcome South Africa
However, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief executive Wasim Khan is confident that four of the top cricket nations, including South Africa will tour the country by the end of next year.
“We expect the ECB to come over next year to start looking at venues and there really is no reason to assume that the England side will not come to Pakistan in 2022,” he told PakPassion.net.
“Most importantly, the CEO and the new Chairman of the ECB are keen to make this tour happen. We are looking forward to welcoming England in 2022 as we are South Africa in January 2021 and then New Zealand, followed by Australia in 2022 as well. “We have two big years ahead of us, and the MCC tour has paved the way for county sides to visit Pakistan as well. We are also looking to bring in tours by A-sides in the future.”
Next Proteas fixtures
The Proteas have played no cricket since the cancellation of their limited-overs tour to India in March, which ended without a ball being bowled after the first match was rained out.
Their mid-year tours to Sri Lanka and the West Indies were then cancelled, along with Pakistan’s visit to South Africa, originally scheduled to take place between September and October as preparation for the Men’s T20 World Cup, which has also been postponed.
There are also doubts over whether the Proteas’ prospective summer tourists will be able to honour their tour of South Africa planned for December and January.