Pakistan is unlikely to go ahead with a planned one-day series against Sri Lanka later this month due to lack of sponsor interest, a Pakistan Cricket Board official said.
The PCB expects to make a final decision on the proposed series this week.
The five-match limited-overs series was planned in Sri Lanka to fill the gap created after the Champions Trophy was postponed for a year due to security fears in Pakistan.
"Efforts to organize matches against Sri Lanka have encountered difficulties and the main thing is lack of sponsors' interest in the series," PCB spokesman Mansoor Suhail said.
"The way things stand at the moment, it's highly unlikely that the series will be played."
Pakistan headache
Pakistan had earlier also tried to organize a triangular series in South Africa also featuring Sri Lanka, but Cricket South Africa refused, saying its players were exhausted after a tour of England.
The likely cancellation of the Sri Lanka series adds to the dearth of international cricket for Pakistan.
Pakistan has not played a test match in 2008.
It has hosted only two one-day series against weaker oppositions, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, earlier this year and the Asia Cup one-day tournament.
Security concerns prompted Australia to postpone its scheduled tour in March this year, and Australia joined England, South Africa and New Zealand in lobbying the International Cricket Council to postpone the Champions Trophy until October 2009.
"Dark era"
Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik has asked the ICC to help Pakistan by asking its member countries to arrange a series.
Pakistani newspaper The News quoted Malik as saying: "Pakistan cricket is going through a dark era and it is a very depressing situation that no international cricket activity is taking place in Pakistan."
"I know it's not easy to arrange such series on a short notice, but ICC being the parent body of cricket can do it," Malik said.
"(The ICC) should put its weight behind any move for an away one-day or test series," he added.
Pakistan is currently placed at No. 6 in both test and one-day rankings.
Prolific batsman Muhammad Yousuf is the sole Pakistani nomination in the ODI
Player of the Year category of the ICC awards.
No competition
"It's quite alarming both for our team and players as we have slipped down in the test rankings and our players are suffering because they didn't get a chance to play test cricket for the last eight months," Shoaib said.
Pakistan's next test is not scheduled until January 2009 when India is slated to tour.
It's next major international assignment is a quadrangular Twenty20 tournament in Toronto, Canada next month in which the host nation, Sri Lanka and the West Indies are the other competing nations.
Mahela Jayawardene is concerned about the long term viability of Sri Lankan test cricket [GALLO/GETTY]
Sri Lanka wants equal opportunities
Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene is urging competing national cricket boards to support a single Twenty20 world tournament to ensure the continuing viability of test cricket.
"I've said this from the beginning and I believe it even now, international Twenty20 is not the way forward" Jayawardene said in an article to be published in next month's edition of The Wisden Cricketer magazine.
"The way forward would be to have one big Twenty20 tournament, whether that's IPL (Indian Premier League), EPL (English Premier League) or (the West Indies') Stanford, and it will accommodate everyone's interests," he said.
"The best players will play over a short period and the income generated can be shared."
Unified competition
Jayawardene, who has been short-listed for the international player of the year and the test player of the year awards, said having a unified T20 competition would ensure the survival of limited-overs and test match cricket.
But it would rely on the cooperation of the various national cricket boards, Jayawardene said.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India launched the lucrative IPL last season, selling franchises in the competition and TV rights to amass unprecedented revenue for a domestic series.
That sparked a spate of subsequent series, all with heavy financial backing and incentives for the elite players.
"The BCCI also needs to understand that we can't be playing four Twenty20
tournaments in a year.
"What happens to other cricket around the world then?" Jayawardene said.
Sharing profits
"Everyone's being driven by the money but you have to compromise and start sharing the pot."
Jayawardene, who is contracted to Kings XI Punjab in the IPL, and his fellow senior Sri Lanka players, are in dispute with Sri Lanka Cricket over next year's tour of England and the financial terms of the tour because it clashes with the IPL.
"There's no compromise when it comes to playing for our country.
"We put everything on the line but, regardless of how well we play against England or Australia, we'll still get paid what we get right now," Jayawardene said.
"But when we're given an opportunity like the IPL, it's a chance to play six weeks of cricket and make the sort of money that the rest of the world makes just by playing for their countries."
Equal opportunities
The 31-year-old Jayawardene, who averages 52.4 in 98 test matches, said players from nations such as England and Australia were much better paid than players from Sri Lanka.
"That's what the dialogue with the authorities is about", he said.
"If we were paid what other international players are, there would be no issue. Then we wouldn't have to go and play IPL or EPL."
Jayawardene would like to see Sri Lanka commit to playing more test cricket and give itself a chance to rise up the International Cricket Council rankings.
"How can you rank Sri Lanka?" he asked. "I think we have only 10 tests in the next three years. Out of that, we're playing Bangladesh home and away.
"So where's our opportunity to climb up the ladder?
"Are we getting equal opportunities to play against Australia, South Africa and England?
"When others play 20 tests or more in the same period, how are we going to get the points to move towards the top?"
Pakistan is unlikely to go ahead with a planned one-day series against Sri Lanka later this month due to lack of sponsor interest, a Pakistan Cricket Board official said.
The PCB expects to make a final decision on the proposed series this week.
The five-match limited-overs series was planned in Sri Lanka to fill the gap created after the Champions Trophy was postponed for a year due to security fears in Pakistan.
"Efforts to organize matches against Sri Lanka have encountered difficulties and the main thing is lack of sponsors' interest in the series," PCB spokesman Mansoor Suhail said.
"The way things stand at the moment, it's highly unlikely that the series will be played."
Pakistan headache
Pakistan had earlier also tried to organize a triangular series in South Africa also featuring Sri Lanka, but Cricket South Africa refused, saying its players were exhausted after a tour of England.
The likely cancellation of the Sri Lanka series adds to the dearth of international cricket for Pakistan.
Pakistan has not played a test match in 2008.
It has hosted only two one-day series against weaker oppositions, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, earlier this year and the Asia Cup one-day tournament.
Security concerns prompted Australia to postpone its scheduled tour in March this year, and Australia joined England, South Africa and New Zealand in lobbying the International Cricket Council to postpone the Champions Trophy until October 2009.
"Dark era"
Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik has asked the ICC to help Pakistan by asking its member countries to arrange a series.
Pakistani newspaper The News quoted Malik as saying: "Pakistan cricket is going through a dark era and it is a very depressing situation that no international cricket activity is taking place in Pakistan."
"I know it's not easy to arrange such series on a short notice, but ICC being the parent body of cricket can do it," Malik said.
"(The ICC) should put its weight behind any move for an away one-day or test series," he added.
Pakistan is currently placed at No. 6 in both test and one-day rankings.
Prolific batsman Muhammad Yousuf is the sole Pakistani nomination in the ODI
Player of the Year category of the ICC awards.
No competition
"It's quite alarming both for our team and players as we have slipped down in the test rankings and our players are suffering because they didn't get a chance to play test cricket for the last eight months," Shoaib said.
Pakistan's next test is not scheduled until January 2009 when India is slated to tour.
It's next major international assignment is a quadrangular Twenty20 tournament in Toronto, Canada next month in which the host nation, Sri Lanka and the West Indies are the other competing nations.
Mahela Jayawardene is concerned about the long term viability of Sri Lankan test cricket [GALLO/GETTY]
Sri Lanka wants equal opportunities
Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene is urging competing national cricket boards to support a single Twenty20 world tournament to ensure the continuing viability of test cricket.
"I've said this from the beginning and I believe it even now, international Twenty20 is not the way forward" Jayawardene said in an article to be published in next month's edition of The Wisden Cricketer magazine.
"The way forward would be to have one big Twenty20 tournament, whether that's IPL (Indian Premier League), EPL (English Premier League) or (the West Indies') Stanford, and it will accommodate everyone's interests," he said.
"The best players will play over a short period and the income generated can be shared."
Unified competition
Jayawardene, who has been short-listed for the international player of the year and the test player of the year awards, said having a unified T20 competition would ensure the survival of limited-overs and test match cricket.
But it would rely on the cooperation of the various national cricket boards, Jayawardene said.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India launched the lucrative IPL last season, selling franchises in the competition and TV rights to amass unprecedented revenue for a domestic series.
That sparked a spate of subsequent series, all with heavy financial backing and incentives for the elite players.
"The BCCI also needs to understand that we can't be playing four Twenty20
tournaments in a year.
"What happens to other cricket around the world then?" Jayawardene said.
Sharing profits
"Everyone's being driven by the money but you have to compromise and start sharing the pot."
Jayawardene, who is contracted to Kings XI Punjab in the IPL, and his fellow senior Sri Lanka players, are in dispute with Sri Lanka Cricket over next year's tour of England and the financial terms of the tour because it clashes with the IPL.
"There's no compromise when it comes to playing for our country.
"We put everything on the line but, regardless of how well we play against England or Australia, we'll still get paid what we get right now," Jayawardene said.
"But when we're given an opportunity like the IPL, it's a chance to play six weeks of cricket and make the sort of money that the rest of the world makes just by playing for their countries."
Equal opportunities
The 31-year-old Jayawardene, who averages 52.4 in 98 test matches, said players from nations such as England and Australia were much better paid than players from Sri Lanka.
"That's what the dialogue with the authorities is about", he said.
"If we were paid what other international players are, there would be no issue. Then we wouldn't have to go and play IPL or EPL."
Jayawardene would like to see Sri Lanka commit to playing more test cricket and give itself a chance to rise up the International Cricket Council rankings.
"How can you rank Sri Lanka?" he asked. "I think we have only 10 tests in the next three years. Out of that, we're playing Bangladesh home and away.
"So where's our opportunity to climb up the ladder?
"Are we getting equal opportunities to play against Australia, South Africa and England?
"When others play 20 tests or more in the same period, how are we going to get the points to move towards the top?"
