Daily Times

LAHORE: The BLACKCAPS Captain Kane Williamson has said that he is excited to tour Pakistan in December this year and play cricket in a country which has such rich cricketing history.

In a video message released by the PCB Media on Monday, the New Zealand all-format captain said so many incredible matches have been played here and he is looking forward to savor the experience of playing in Pakistan. ‘Pakistan are a formidable team in all formats and it will a tough task to beat them in their backyard,’ Williamson added.

The 6th ranked test batter Williamson maintained that Pakistan team has the services of one of the best fast bowling battery in the world and on top of that Pakistan skipper Babar Azam is the world’s top batter, adding Pakistan tour will be a big challenge. He mentioned the cricket-hungry fans of Pakistan who love the game and will be waiting for the BLACKCAPS to visit their cities and play cricket in Pakistan.

The PCB announced today of the BLACKCAPS tour to play two Tests as part of their ICC World Test Championship title defence and three ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League fixtures from 27 December to 15 January, before returning for five T20Is and five ODIs from 13 April to 7 May.

On the first leg of the Pakistan tour, Kane Williamson’s side will play Tests in Karachi (27-31 December) and Multan (4-8 January). They will return to Karachi for the three ICC Super League matches on 11, 13 and 15 January.

The Karachi Test will be New Zealand’s first in the metropolitan city since October 1990 when Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis shared 15 wickets between them and Shoaib Mohammad scored 203 not out, and first in Pakistan since the May 2002 Test in Lahore in which Inzamam-ul-Haq scored a memorable 329 and Shoaib Akhtar recorded first innings figures of 8.2-4-11-6.

New Zealand will begin the second leg of the Pakistan tour in Karachi with four T20Is (13, 15, 16 and 19 April), followed by the fifth T20I and two ODIs in Lahore (23, 26 and 28 April) and last three ODIs will be played in Rawalpindi (1, 4 and 7 May).

The first leg of the tour for two Tests and three ODIs is part of the Future Tours Programme, while the 10 white-ball matches in April/May are to make-up for the abandoned September 2021 tour. New Zealand are presently eighth on the ICC World Test Championship, while Pakistan is sitting in fifth spot.

In the ICC Super League, a qualifying tournament for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, Pakistan and New Zealand are fourth and sixth, respectively. New Zealand will be the third high-profile cricket side to tour Pakistan in 2022 after Australia and England. Schedule of matches (Playing hours to be confirmed closer to matches):

Pakistan v New Zealand:

27-31 Dec – 1st Test, Karachi (ICC World Test Championship)

4-8 Jan – 2nd Test, Multan (ICC World Test Championship)

11 Jan – 1st ODI, Karachi (ICC Super League)

13 Jan – 2nd ODI, Karachi (ICC Super League)

15 Jan – 3rd ODI, Karachi (ICC Super League)

13 Apr – 1st T20I, Karachi

15 Apr – 2nd T20I, Karachi

16 Apr – 3rd T20I, Karachi

19 Apr – 4th T20I, Karachi

23 Apr – 5th T20I, Lahore

26 Apr – 1st ODI, Lahore

28 Apr – 2nd ODI, Lahore

1 May – 3rd ODI, Rawalpindi

4 May – 4th ODI, Rawalpindi

7 May – 5th ODI, Rawalpindi