Cricket Australia Chief Executive, Nick Hockley, and Australian Cricketers’ Association Chief, Todd Greenberg, have flown home after the conclusion of the first Test with promising signs for the future of Pakistan cricket.
While talking to the media, Nick Hockley said that Cricket Australia and the Pakistan Cricket Board are in talks for Australia Women, Australia A, and U19 tours to Pakistan as well.
Nick Hockley further said that both cricket boards will discuss the women’s international Future Tours Program at the upcoming ICC planning meeting in Dubai next month. He said that for Australia A or U19s tours, there are fewer organizational hurdles to face.
“If you look at the likes of Pakistan, Bangladesh, it feels here that 220 million people have been glued to this, it’s a really emerging cricketing power in that sense,” said Hockley. “So, with the relationships that we have built through the course of this process, I can only see us wanting to tour more often.”
“What that means is not necessarily just the Australian men’s team, but the U19s, the Australian women’s team, [men’s] A tours, etc.”
While discussing the ongoing bilateral series, he said that it is their responsibility to keep the tour alive not just as a series but to send a message to global cricket that Pakistan is available for cricket.
“There’s an incumbent level of responsibility on all of us to get this tour up. It wasn’t just about this tour, it was actually about demonstrating to global cricket that Pakistan is available for cricket. I think that that was a weight of responsibility on us. I certainly felt it.”
Hockley further said that the current Australia tour to Pakistan will open the doors for the other big cricketing nations to visit Pakistan for the sake of cricket.
“Hopefully it does allow other nations to feel comfortable that this can happen with the right planning and diligence. I really hope that that is the case.”
