Sri Lanka pull out of hosting Pakistan-Australia series

KARACHI, (Reuters): Pakistan are looking for alternative venues for their one-day series against Australia after Sri Lanka withdrew an offer to host the matches.

The five one-day internationals and three Twenty20 matches clash with some of the dates of the Sri Lanka Premier League T20 competition which runs from Aug. 10-31.

“It is very unfortunate that Sri Lanka is no longer hosting our series in August due to the Sri Lankan Premier League,” Pakistan Cricket Board chief operating officer Subhan Ahmed told Reuters on Saturday.

“We had started our preparations for the series but now we have to look at other neutral venues after this latest development.

“...This series is very important for us ahead of the Twenty20 World Cup in September,” he said.

South Africa, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates are possible alternate venues

In March, Sri Lanka agreed in principle to host the series. Pakistan have played their “home” series abroad, mainly in the United Arab Emirates, since a gun attack on the Sri Lanka team in Lahore in March 2009 killed seven people and left five players injured.