Cricket New Zealand approves team's tour to Pakistan after security check

Cricket New Zealand (NZC) has given the formal go-ahead to its cricket team’s tour to Pakistan that starts on September 17.

The approval came after their independent consultant Reg Dickason gave the green-light to security arrangements in Pakistan following a week-long pre-tour check.

The development means that New Zealand cricket team will travel to Islamabad on September 11 as scheduled after concluding their fortnight-long tour to Bangladesh that ends a day earlier. They will play three ODIs in Rawalpindi and five T20s in Lahore with the tour wrapping up on October 3.

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Kiwi’s stand-in captain Tom Latham who is currently undergoing a mandatory quarantine in Dhaka said in a virtual pre-series news conference that the players had “full trust” in NZC’s processes and Dickason’s assessment.

“Someone like Reg, he's been around a long time, and he's worked with New Zealand Cricket for a long time. We here have full trust in what he does for New Zealand Cricket and the processes and regulations that they put in place."

Latham said that their focus is currently on Bangladesh, which will turn to Pakistan once this series is done.

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Players Association’s Chief Heath Mills told Stuff.co.nz that Dickason would accompany the team in Pakistan to assess any possible threat.

“We have a comprehensive security check process with New Zealand Cricket, and we’ve had that same process in place for a significant number of years now.

“The tour has always been on, but we just completed this process for Pakistan in the past few days like we have done for Bangladesh before that and many tours over the last few years.

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“We’re comfortable with what we’ve heard back from Reg and that all the various aspects that we would expect to see in place are going to be, and we’re supportive of the tour continuing.”

This will be New Zealand's first tour to Pakistan since 2003.