Pak want compensation for Sharjah switch

Pakistan want compensation from the International Cricket Council (ICC) after being forced to play their upcoming home Test and one-day series against West Indies in Sharjah.

"We will take up the issue of compensation at the ICC's Executive Board meeting in March," Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Tauqir Zia told Reuters. "We feel that the ICC should look into compensating us for having to play our home series at a neutral venue."

The two-Test series and three one-day internationals will take place in Sharjah after the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) refused to send their team to Pakistan because of security concerns due to the political situation in Afghanistan and rising Indo-Pakistan border tensions.

When the first Test in Sharjah starts on January 31 it will be only the third instance this century of neither team in a Test match playing at home.

In 1912, Australia and South Africa played three Tests in England during a triangular series, while in 1999 Pakistan met Sri Lanka in Dhaka in the Asian Test Championship final.

"We have decided to play the series in Sharjah as I didn't want my players to miss another international series," Zia said. "We took the decision in the larger interests of the game."

"Our argument is that since we are not going to make money the way we would have if the series had been played in Pakistan, the ICC should consider compensating us, either monetarily or in the shape of giving us matches," he added.

The PCB has said it will be lucky to even break even after organising the series in Sharjah because of the additional expenses involved in hosting a series away from home and loss of television revenue.

"If the series had been played in Pakistan as scheduled, we could have aimed for revenues of $2.5 million," Zia said. "That is not possible now."

The PCB says it has lost more than $10 million in revenues because of the cancellation of tours by India, New Zealand and Sri Lanka last year --the last two teams calling off their planned trips following the September 11 attacks on the U.S.

Zia said Pakistan would discuss the compensation issue in detail at the ICC Executive Board meeting in New Zealand.

"We never wanted the series to be shifted away from Pakistan. And we kept on offering security assurances to all teams even after the September 11 attacks," he said.

"When England can tour India at this very time, what reason was there for the West Indies board to not play in Pakistan?"

Mail Cricket Editor