Dubai: South Africa will be ready to play Pakistan in the UAE. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has proposed three Tests and five One-day matches against South Africa.
"UAE has always been a viable cricket venue. We have played in Sharjah and Abu Dhabi before. We are looking forward to playing in the new stadium at the Dubai Sports City and our boys like it here," Gerald Majola, the Chief Executive Officer of Cricket South Africa told Gulf News.
Wasim Bari, the PCB's Chief Operating Officer, announced yesterday that the series is likely to be held here from October 28. Pakistan has been regularly hosting their home series in UAE as other teams have refused to play there owing to the security situation.
Itinerary
"We have not yet finalised the itinerary. We have been exploring options of playing in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah but no decision has been taken," added Majola, who also revealed that plans are on to send South Africa's A team to play in UAE.
"We are hoping to send our A team also to UAE. I am able to see that UAE is currently doing very well and hence will be a strong opposition to our A team. It is also important for us to prepare our players to play in the sub-continent conditions. We will be speaking to UAE whether we can send our A team here," said Majola. "Our A team is our second best team. We want our A team to play here because if anything happens to our top players the players from our second best team will also know to play under these conditions," he said.
Major events
"We want to win major ICC events like the Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies and World Cup next year in the sub-continent. We are looking forward to it and we plan to come to UAE to prepare for the World Cup. We want to use Dubai as a training ground," said Majola, who also lauded the support from cricket lover and UAE businessman Shyam Bhatia towards promotion of cricket in South Africa.
"Bhatia has sponsored hundreds of cricket kits to cricketers in the rural areas and for the under privileged. He also assisted in sending seven spinners to India for training and helped Roelof van der Merwe reach the national team."
