New Zealand will not allow its players to tour Pakistan for World XI series

After the recently concluded ICC Champions Trophy, Pakistan team has been termed as a force to reckon. Ticking all the boxes in the Champions Trophy, they are now aiming at bigger possibilities. Once such thing that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is looking forward to is to bring back international cricket in the nation, which is at a standstill at the moment.

Only a much lower ranked team like Zimbabwe has toured Pakistan in the recent past. Many international teams have refused to tour Pakistan, citing uncertainty of players’ security as the prime reason. However, after the men in green lifted the coveted eight-team tournament title, it was declared that a World XI team will tour Pakistan.

They will play three T20 matches in Lahore after a short pre-series camp in Dubai. The PCB was looking forward to this as an opportunity to bring back international cricket in Pakistan, but an unexpected setback was waiting for them. New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has decided that they will not allow any Black Caps’ player to feature in the tournament.

The New Zealanders are offered a hefty amount of money, $100,000 (NZ$138,000) for featuring in the series. But the board is firm in their decision of not allowing the players to visit Pakistan. “For the contracted players it’s highly likely they will be unavailable [for Pakistan] due to other international commitments, that I can’t say any more about at this stage,” said NZC chief executive David White as quoted by Stuff.

Non-contracted players can still participate

NZC has decided to restrict the 21 contracted players like Trent Boult and Martin Guptill from touring Pakistan. But the non-contracted yet world-famous stars, like Brendon McCullum, Grant Elliot and Luke Ronchi can still play in the series. However, before touring Pakistan, they will have to attend the risk assessment programme conducted by security expert Reg Dickason for the Federation of International Cricketers’ Association (Fica).

“For the non-contracted players there’s ongoing security advice from the ICC, and I know the Players’ Association has sought independent security advice as well. They’ll be guided by that advice and make a decision and they would have to assume the risk of going [to Pakistan]. I know that they [organisers] plan to speak to some New Zealand players and [Ronchi] was one of them.

“We’ve advised them all that Fica are currently working through getting a risk assessment completed and we’ll be sending it out to to the guys so they can make up their minds if they decide they want to go, as to whether the risk is worth it,” It will be interesting to know the decision taken by cricketers like Ronchi after attending the risk assessment programme.