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one-day internationals against New Zealand.

The team, which has never played an international, will have their debut against the New Zealand women's team with one-day matches on January 28 and 29.

They will then travel to Australia where they will play two one-day internationals.

The team were understood to have had problems obtaining visas to travel to New Zealand and Australia.

Their hosts, the Canterbury Cricket Association, only obtained final confirmation of the tour on Friday.

As newcomers to international cricket, their four internationals are necessary for them to qualify for the World Cup in India in December.

Women's cricket commentator Lesley Murdoch said the Pakistan team was ``really an unknown''.

``Quite a number of the team come from one family, the players range in age from 16-30 years old and the team is managed by two men -- Shabbir Hussain and Shahid Said Khan,'' she said.

``We understand some of the women have been educated and trained in England.

``We gather they have played most of their cricket against men's teams in Pakistan, some of which they have beaten. Other than that we know very little about them.''

Murdoch said the tour had been hosted by Canterbury Cricket and supported by New Zealand Cricket to foster development in international women's cricket.

``We want to improve the standard of the women's game and to do this we need more teams in the arena.''

The team will play its first match against the Canterbury team on Friday.

They will play Ashburton in Ashburton on January 15, followed by a day/night game against South Canterbury on January 17 and a one-day game on January 18, before playing Otago in Alexandra on January 20.

They then warm up for the internationals with day games against Canterbury under-17 and under-23 on January 25 and 26. -- NZPA