Zimbabwe will become the first full ICC member nation to tour Pakistan since a deadly gun attack targeted a visiting cricket team six years ago.
Zimbabwe will play two Twenty20s and three one-day internationals in Lahore — the site of the 2009 attack — while touring from May 19 to June 1, the Pakistan and Zimbabwe cricket boards announced on Thursday.
"This would be an auspicious moment for Pakistan cricket and I am positive that it would open doors of international cricket in Pakistan," PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan said in a statement. "I am grateful to my counterpart in Cricket Zimbabwe, Wilson Manase, for acceding to our request of sending a full side on a tour to Pakistan."
The PCB has hosted Kenya and Afghanistan over the last couple of years, but no test-playing country has toured Pakistan because of security concerns, after gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan team bus on the way to a test in Lahore in March 2009.
Six police officials and a van driver were killed, and some Sri Lanka players and officials were wounded.
Since then, Pakistan has played its home series in the United Arab Emirates.
"I am not in any doubt that the PCB will be looking after us well. That has been assured," Zimbabwe Cricket chairman Manase said at a news conference in Harare.
The first T20 of the tour will be the opening game on May 22.
"I am indeed confident that Zimbabwe's incident-free tour shall be the harbinger of more and more associate and full-member nations visiting us in the months and years to come," Khan said.
Cricket's governing body, the ICC, has been informed of the tour but has yet to confirm whether it will send officials for the five international matches at Gaddafi Stadium.
The ICC has previously amended its rules so that only local Pakistan umpires and match referees stand in games, something it did in 2012 for a proposed visit by Bangladesh, which was ultimately cancelled.
Zimbabwe will send officials on Monday to review security arrangements before the team arrives in Lahore on May 19.
Initially, Pakistan planned some matches in Karachi, but the PCB said Zimbabwe players expressed concerns over extensive travelling, so the series will be played only in Lahore.
ZC managing director Alistair Campbell said the tour will help establish bilateral relations, and Pakistan's team will reciprocate by touring Zimbabwe in August.
Manase declined to say how much the Zimbabwean players would be paid to tour, but reports have suggested they may get $10,000 each, with part of their fees paid by the PCB.
Also, Zimbabwe Cricket said coach Dav Whatmore agreed on a four-year contract extension. The Australian took charge of Zimbabwe in December on a short-term deal until after the Cricket World Cup.
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