Pakistani cricket officials will meet with their new Sri Lankan counterparts later this week in a bid to salvage their planned home series following the sacking of the country's interim cricket board. Pakistani representatives will hold talks during the Asian Cricket Council meeting in Kuala Lumpur, where they hope to convince Sri Lanka to go ahead with the tour amid concerns it will be scrapped by the new administrators. The president of the Sri Lanka cricket interim committee, Arjuna Ranatunga, last week confirmed a tour to Pakistan from Jan. 20, but he and his team were fired by the country's Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge on Tuesday. Media reports quoted Lokuge as saying all decisions taken by Ranatunga would be reconsidered, throwing into doubt the scheduled tour, arranged after India aborted their trip to Pakistan in the wake of the recent Mumbai militant attacks. “Everything has been handed over to sports secretary S. Liyanagama and he'll be looking into security before a final decision is taken with regard to the tour,” Lokuge told reporters. Saleem Altaf, chief operating officer of the Pakistan board, told Reuters: “Right now it is their internal matter so we don't want to panic but we want to ensure the tour goes on. “We badly need to have an international series at home. We are keen on hosting Sri Lanka even though we will not make much money. “It is important to have Test cricket in our country.” Pakistan has not played a Test in over a year, with opponents declining invitations or pulling out due to security fears after a series of suicide bombings in the country. Five ODIs in Bangladesh Pakistan will tour Bangladesh to play five One-Day Internationals in March next year, an official said Wednesday. Pakistan has not played a bilateral series in Bangladesh since 2002 although it toured the nation to play a tri-series in May this year. “There is an opinion that Pakistan has been isolated at international level but it's not correct and we have arranged tours for the team,” Altaf told reporters. “As part of our team playing more cricket we will play five one-day matches in Bangladesh starting the tour on March 3,” Altaf said. Altaf said he hoped Australia, which postponed its tour of Pakistan in March this year over security fears, would play five one-day matches in Pakistan in March-April next year. “I have talked to Cricket Australia on the five-match series and there is always the option of playing Australia at a neutral venue if they have any reservations on playing in Pakistan,” said Altaf. Australia has not toured Pakistan since 1998. Pietersen fined Captain Kevin Pietersen has been fined 10 percent of his match fee and his England teammates docked five percent for their slow over-rate in the first Test against India in Chennai. An International Cricket Council (ICC) statement on Wednesday said England was one over shy of its target when it lost by six wickets earlier this month. India took the series 1-0 when this week's second and final Test in Mohali ended in a draw.
