Thaindian News

London, Sep 12(ANI): Pakistan’s cricket future has grown significantly more clouded after it emerged that England would not serve as a neutral venue again next year.

According to The News, after the ’spot-fixing’ scandal which has engulfed the Pakistan team, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is believed to have written them out of the script and fixture schedule for the 2011 season.

The ECB’s grand design had been for Pakistan to use England as their second home so long as the South Asian country was bedevilled by security and terrorism concerns.

Pakistan’s ‘flop’ two-Test series against Australia also did not help their cause, as the ECB failed to get the commercial success that they were hoping for.

For 2011, the ECB’s chief aspiration had been to stage a neutral Test and ODI series between Pakistan and India, which would have drawn the crowds.

The ECB was also planning an ODI series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

However, an ECB official now says that “nobody is thinking about that one any more”.

Leading cricket teams have refused to visit Pakistan following last year’s terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore, which has also forced Pakistan to hold its ‘home’ series against Australia and England in England.

In the last two years, Pakistan ‘home’ games have also been staged in the United Arab Emirates and New Zealand.

Pakistan, which was due to co-host the 2011 World Cup, was also stripped of its matches following the attack on the Sri Lankan team.

Pakistan was supposed to hold 14 matches, including one semi-final. Eight of Pakistan’s matches have been awarded to India, four to Sri Lanka and two to Bangladesh. (ANI)