LAHORE, Nov 5: Cricket South Africa (CSA) and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Tuesday formally announced that Pakistan will make a short tour of South Africa for three One-day Internationals and two Twenty20 matches.

The series out of the ICC’s Future Tour Programme (FTP) was arranged following India’s decision to shorten its tour to South Africa, starting next month.

“This is certainly fantastic news for the Proteas and our fans,” commented CSA Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat.

“With the Indian tour having unfortunately been curtailed, we needed to give our fans the opportunity to see the Proteas in action, and I’m delighted that Pakistan accepted our offer to tour here.

“It’s not been an easy period for the South African cricket but I want to thank our fans and commercial partners for their patience and support during this time,” added Lorgat.

The Pakistan team is expected to depart for South Africa on Nov 18 from Dubai with the details regarding the tour schedule and ticket details to be announced shortly.

“We are very happy to tour South Africa and play against one of the best teams in the world,” said Najam Sethi.

“The tour will be beneficial to both our boards and we are looking forward to building on our excellent relationship with the CSA.” he added.

It is instructive to note that as per the PCB press release, Lorgat leaves for Dubai on Tuesday to meet PCB officials to agree on full details regarding the tour.

The series in question was planned as both the countries have a two-week gap before playing their respective next series.

While South Africa are to play India at home from Dec 5, Pakistan’s next series is against Sri Lanka in the UAE from Dec 11. Both the teams are currently playing a full bilateral series in the UAE which ends on Nov 15 with the last T20 match.

This means many Pakistan and South African cricketers will be engaged in the two back-to-back series without any break for almost two months with several Pakistani cricketers reaching the UAE on Oct 5 to start the ongoing series against the Proteas with a three-day match.

It is pertinent to mention that the two countries decided to play this series after India shortened its tour of South Africa from three Tests, seven ODIs and two T20 matches to just two Tests and three ODIs due to which Cape Town, Bloemfontein and East London lost their matches.

Cape Town has been given an ODI and a T20 after Pakistan agreed to send team to South Africa with the PCB also expecting an earning of $1.5m from the South Africa series.

AFP adds: Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haq said his team will learn more from the tour.

“I think we will benefit from the tour because of playing a top team,” Misbah told reporters in Abu Dhabi about the South Africa tour.

“It will give our players more opportunity to learn, it will help these young players to get mentally strong,” said Misbah.

South Africa one-day captain AB de Villiers also hailed the tour.

“It is great to play against a team like Pakistan. Some of the stadiums will get a bit more good games. Pakistan have a world class bowling attack and very dangerous batters so it will be exciting,” said De Vlliers. “I think we need as much cricket as possible, especially one day cricket.

Itinerary:

First T20: Nov 20 (Johannesburg).

Second T20: Nov 22 (Cape Town)

First ODI: Nov 24 (Cape Town)

Second ODI: Nov 27 (Port Elizabeth)

Third ODI: Nov 30 (Centurion)