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President of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Reverend Wes Hall returned home yesterday to wonderful news.

On arriving at the Grantley Adams Airport from London, Hall learned for the first time that Pakistan, on the insistence of the WICB, had decided to play their Test and One-Day International series in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. Bangladesh and Morocco were also submitted as alternative venues.

This is great news. My prayers have been answered. I thank the Lord for coming to our help, as He has done in ages past, said Hall as he arrived accompanied by WICB vice- president Val Banks and marketing official Chris Dehring. The trio, along with Teddy Griffith, met over the weekend with British Sky Broadcasting officials.

This is very OK with me. Bangladesh would have been OK as well, but most of our players would have played in Sharjah moreso than Bangladesh, so we should be more comfortable in Sharjah, Hall added.

I felt it would be a nicer thing for all concerned if they were to acquiesce to our suggestion, taken a while ago, to play in a neutral venue.

The former West Indies bowling great said it was never the WICB's call to nominate a venue, but Sharjah was always the preferred choice. He added it would have nagged his conscience if he had sent the team to Pakistan and some ill befell the members.

When they offered Sharjah and Bangladesh Morocco would have been too hot we said we preferred Sharjah, but it was their call. We said: `Why don't you suggest an alternative for our concurrence'? Now, everyone is happy.

The itinerary has been reduced to two Tests and three One- Day Internationals from the three Tests and three One-Day Internationals scheduled for Pakistan from January 25 to March 6.

The WICB repeatedly advised the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) of its concern for the security of its players because of the continuing American bombing and military action in neighbouring Afghanistan and the escalation of border tensions between Pakistan and India.

We were considering Bangladesh, Tangiers (Morocco) and Sharjah among the neutral venues, but we opted for Sharjah because we can generate more revenues from television rights and sponsorships, (PCB) chairman Tauqir Zia said.

Mazhar Khan, administrator of the Emirates Cricket Board, said his board was honoured and delighted to be hosting the series.

We have a very short time to prepare, but then we are pretty experienced in hosting matches. Sharjah has already played host to 181 One-Day matches so far and the experience will come in handy, Mazhar added. It will be an historic moment for us when we host the first Test match here.

Pakistan start the first of two Tests against lowly Bangladesh in Dhaka today, their first taste of international cricket since they beat England in the final Test in Manchester last June to level a two-match series. Their cricket has been hit hard after the September 11 attacks on the United States and the subsequent United States-led bombing of neighbouring Afghanistan.

Tours by New Zealand and Sri Lanka were cancelled and India also pulled out of a full series and an Asian Test Championship match at Lahore, causing the PCB an estimated revenue loss of US$8 to US$10 million.

We would have liked to have the series in Pakistan but, if this cannot be, we feel it should be played at a neutral venue so that we do not suffer any more loss of revenue, Zia said.

© The Barbados Nation