Cricket: New Zealand returns to Pakistan for 5 ODI and 5 T20 games | Cricket news

New Zealand will replace this year’s abandoned Pakistan tour by playing 10 white ball matches in April 2023, the Pakistan Cricket Board says.

New Zealand will replace this year’s abandoned Pakistan tour by playing 10 white ball matches in April 2023, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Monday.

New Zealand suspended its limited tour to Pakistan in September due to security fears just before the first one-day international throwing competition was scheduled to take place in Rawalpindi.

England followed New Zealand’s decision by also giving up their short tour of Pakistan just before the October Twenty20 World Cup.

The New Zealand tour in April 2023 will consist of five One Day Internationals or ODIs and five Twenty20s. Dates and locations have not been decided.

Pakistani Asif Ali (center) and Shoaib Malik greet New Zealand players at the end of Cricket’s Twenty20 World Cup match between New Zealand and Pakistan in the UAE. [File: Aijaz Rahi/AP]

The PCB also said that New Zealand will tour Pakistan in December 2022 to play two test matches as part of the World Test Championship and will also play three ODIs that will count towards qualifying for the 2023 World Cup in India.

The PCB said the dual trip to New Zealand to Pakistan was completed after successful talks between PCB chairman Ramiz Raja and his New Zealand Cricket (NZC) colleague Martin Snedden.

“I am pleased with the outcome of our discussions and negotiations and thank Martin Sedden and his board for their understanding and support,” Raja said.

NZC CEO David White said the leaders of both cricket boards “had very fruitful and constructive discussions in Dubai, further strengthening the bond between the two organizations.”

Pakistan will now host Australia, the West Indies, England and New Zealand between March 2022 and April 2023 during eight test matches, 14 ODIs and 13 Twenty20 games.

International groups had largely stayed away from Pakistan after a 2009 armed attack on a Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore that killed six police and two civilians. This forced Pakistani national teams to play “home matches” outside the country for more than six years.

Pakistan swept the West Indies three matches in the T20 series this month. The three-match ODI series between the same teams was postponed until next June due to the West Indian team’s coronavirus epidemic.