KARACHI: Geoff Lawson, the coach of the Pakistan team, has urged the Cricket Board to defy odds and organise more cricketing activities to help revive the game in the country.
Lawson said that the PCB should strive to fight the hostile circumstances, in an apparent reference to the security concerns put forth by some foreign countries, and should concentrate on having more cricket in Pakistan.
"We had a wonderful Twenty20 tournament before we went to Toronto. Good crowd, wonderful stadium it was fantastic. So now our first priority should be to try and keep cricket going in Pakistan ," Lawson told reporters after returning to Lahore from Toronto.
"We must keep cricket happening in Pakistan even if things might stop us from doing that."
Lawson while commenting on reports that England Cricket Board was willing to host Test matches involving Pakistan said it was for the administrators to decide.
"I'm not sure about that right now. That's for the administrators to deal with. But we had the Twenty 20 tournament in Pakistan and it shows cricket can be played in Pakistan with no problems at all," Lawson said.
Meanwhile, skipper Shoaib Malik expressed confidence that Pakistan will end up hosting the Champions Trophy next year and said it will be the best thing to happen to the nation.
"I say this because right now tourists are avoiding Pakistan due to security fears. I am sure when the mega event will be held, they will tour with the teams and the country's economy will rise. It is our responsibility make it successful to revive cricket in Pakistan ," Malik said.
Malik added that playing in the domestic T20 tournament had helped the team do well in the Toronto tournament, where the lost the final match to Sri Lanka.
Malik though was not happy with the hectic schedule, the team had to follow.
"We played T20 domestic tournament here before going to Toronto which was a good thing but what was bad was the fact that we had a non-stop 24 hour flight which took off the same night we played the T20 final.
"And we played non stop cricket in Toronto. I am not complaining but it was hectic but the truth is that had we not played T20 local tournament, we might not have been able to do this well," he said.
