Pakistan series with Australia still taking shape but could land in UAE

Financial considerations may mean emphasis on one-day matches and fewer Tests

Pakistan players warming up during training at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Tuesday. Ishara S Kodikara / AFP

Pakistan and Australia will play a two-Test series this October, most likely in the UAE. The series has been on the Future Tours Programme (FTP) for some time, though details of how many matches it would entail have not been made clear.

A Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official confirmed that the series would be of two Tests and several limited-overs games. The two sides played three ODIs and three Twenty20s in September 2012 and this Test series was originally inked in as the second half of that series.

The PCB have not confirmed the UAE as a venue, but it is the likeliest option. The board has made noises about finding other venues, citing high costs in the UAE.

They are assessing the viability of Qatar as an alternative, where their women’s team are playing in a triangular series, but the stadium infrastructure in Doha is far less established than in the UAE.

The reason the PCB is keen on just two Tests is clear. Revenues from limited-overs matches in the UAE far exceed those from a Test and, given the financial hit the PCB has taken since Pakistan was banished as an international venue, it makes economic sense.

“Our expectation will be that it will be in the UAE and my expectation is that it won’t be three Test matches, it will probably be two Test matches and a combination of one-dayers,” James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, told ABC Radio.

“It’s the hosts’ call on that and we’ll work as closely as we can with them. There’s a reciprocal arrangement. We wouldn’t like to be playing a series of less than three, but that’s their choice how they balance that and, at the end of the day, Pakistan are not able to host international cricket in Pakistan. Their commercial viability is really affected by that, so we respect their position and the decisions they need to make there.”