West Indies Cricket Fans Forum
Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed thanked the West Indies for touring the country
Reuters/Karachi
Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed thanked the West Indies for touring the country, as the Caribbean side arrived in Karachi yesterday in the latest step towards the resumption of top-level cricket in the South Asian nation.
The West Indies will become only the third international team to play a bilateral series on Pakistani soil since a militant attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in March 2009.
The 13-member team and staff arrived late yesterday in two groups and were ushered into a bullet proof bus to their hotel.
Some 1,000 policemen and paramilitary staff were deployed along their route to guard the team, which will fly out soon after the third match on Tuesday night.
International cricketers stopped playing in Pakistan after the 2009 assault, citing safety concerns, and the national team has had to play its home matches in the United Arab Emirates since.
There has been a trickle of internationals and high-profile matches in recent years, however, with an improvement in the security situation.
“We should thank... the West Indies cricket board and their team for the tour,” Pakistan skipper Ahmed said yesterday.
“I hope it will be a successful tour and when they go back they will tell players from other countries to come to Pakistan.”
Zimbabwe travelled to Lahore for five limited-overs matches in 2015 — the first since the 2009 attack.
That was followed by the final of the Pakistan Super League T20 tournament last year — also in Lahore — which featured several international players, including former West Indies captain Darren Sammy.
Soon after, there was a series against a World XI and a match against Sri Lanka — all T20s in Lahore.
The West Indies will play three T20s in as many days starting today at National Stadium in Karachi — Pakistan’s largest city. This is the Caribbean side’s first tour of the country since 2006
About the author
Guyana Diaspora Forum
We have a large database of Guyanese worldwide. Most of our readers are in the USA, Canada, and the UK. Our Blog and Newsletter would not only carry articles and videos on Guyana, but also other articles on a wide range of subjects that may be of interest to our readers in over 200 countries, many of them non-Guyanese We hope that you like our selections.
It is estimated that over one million Guyanese, when counting their dependents, live outside of Guyana. This exceeds the population of Guyana, which is now about 750,000. Many left early in the 50’s and 60’s while others went with the next wave in the 70’s and 80’s. The latest wave left over the last 20 years. This outflow of Guyanese, therefore, covers some three generations. This outflow still continues today, where over 80 % of U.G. graduates now leave after graduating. We hope this changes, and soon.
Guyanese, like most others, try to keep their culture and pass it on to their children and grandchildren. The problem has been that many Guyanese have not looked back, or if they did it was only fleetingly. This means that the younger generations and those who left at an early age know very little about Guyana since many have not visited the country. Also, if they do get information about Guyana, it is usually negative and thus the cycle of non-interest is cultivated.
This Guyana Diaspora Online Forum , along with its monthly newsletter, aims at bringing Guyanese together to support positive news, increase travel and tourism in Guyana and, in general, foster the birth of a new Guyana, which has already begun notwithstanding the negative news that grabs the headlines. As the editor and manager of the publication, I am committed to delivering Blog entries and Newsletters that are politically balanced, and focused on the positive ideas we wish to share and foster among Guyanese.
| ||||
