ICC decide not to send its umpires and referee for Zimbabwe-Pakistan series

ICC Chief Executive David Richardson

The International Cricket Council (ICC) today advised the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) that it will not be appointing its match officials for the upcoming series between Pakistan and Zimbabwe. The ICC’s decision has been made after receiving a report from its security consultant. The ICC Board, during its April meeting, had decided that the playing conditions relating to the appointment of match officials could be waived to allow the PCB to appoint local match officials for this series should the ICC decide not to send its umpires and referee due to the current security situation in Pakistan. If this was to occur, the matches would still be considered “official cricket”, even though they will not be played strictly in accordance with the ICC standard playing conditions. The umpire and referee appointments will be announced by the PCB shortly.

International cricket in Pakistan came to a halt in 2009 when a Sri Lankan cricket team came under a terrorist attack in Lahore. No cricketer, however, was killed but some of them were injured.