Cricket Ireland chief executive Warren Deutrom is interested in sending the national team to Pakistan in the near future if invited. Deutrom was there in Lahore while Pakistan hosted Sri Lanka for T20Is just recently and got quite impressed by the security arrangements made by Pakistan Cricket Board.
"First of all, we have been treated fabulously well," ESPNcricinfo quoted Deutrom as saying in the PCB's podcast. "The courtesy, the generosity, the hospitality, the warmth, the love of cricket is plainly obvious for anyone to see."
"Cricket Ireland is now a Test nation and we certainly feel it is important that we play our part in being a mature and grownup member of the cricket family. We want to play our part in assisting getting international cricket back in Pakistan."
Sri Lanka was offered presidential-level security over the course of the three ODIs and three T20Is tour that began on September 25.
"To be honest, and just at a very human level, until you see it yourself, you come with a set of conceptions or preconceptions," Deutrom said. "And I think this visit, which was generously made at the invitation of the Pakistan Cricket Board, would begin to change those perceptions."
Besides Ireland, Pakistan is further hoping to see England arrive at its shores for a tour and hence the PCB had also invited England and Wales Cricket Board CEO Tom Harrison to oversee its security arrangements.
"What we saw in Islamabad and Lahore is the extraordinary lengths to which the cricket authorities, the security authorities, the government and police, everyone has been working incredibly closely together to building that confidence," Deutrom said.
"It begins to build a sense of okay, well, what are the reasons now to say why wouldn't we come if we have all these sensitive comforts provided to us. So, it is the beginning, I believe, of a conversation."
Pakistan and Ireland's officials are set to meet at the end of the month. And Deutrom said if his countrymen are actually invited for a tour, the proposal from PCB will be taken with utmost seriousness.
"We have a board meeting at the end of this month and would like to convey to the board what we have seen and the remarkable steps that have been taken to instil that level of confidence in other cricket boards around the world. We will do what we have always done, engage with our governments and insurers, and talk to our players."
"We will speak with the other boards that have been here in the past, obviously Sri Lanka Cricket, and then, we need to wait for an invitation."
"When we receive an invitation, we will go through the motions and will take it extremely seriously. There is no date set," Deutrom added.
"However, it wouldn't surprise me if that date or if that invitation was received by the end of the year for a tour taking place, perhaps next year, maybe the year after, I don't know. I think that's something we should take extremely seriously."
(Inputs from ESPNcricinfo)
