da leao： Sri Lanka and Pakistan have agreed to cancel their meaningless round robingame in the Asian Test Championship (ATC) and play a straight final fromMarch 6-10 at Lahore, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) announced Tuesday
CricInfo14-Feb-2002Sri Lanka and Pakistan have agreed to cancel their meaningless round robingame in the Asian Test Championship (ATC) and play a straight final fromMarch 6-10 at Lahore, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) announced Tuesday.”The dates of the second Asian Championship final were decided after we gotthe consent of both the boards involved,” ACC secretary Zakir Hussain Syedtold AFP news agency at Karachi.All parties will be relieved to complete a tournament, designed to be amajor source of revenue for Asian cricket, which flopped after India pulledout last September because of increasing hostilities in India-administeredKashmir.Both Pakistan and Sri Lanka had crushed Bangladesh by an innings inSeptember, guaranteeing their respective places in the final, making theirproposed group game, originally scheduled for February, unnecessary.”We have a disappointing Asian Championship because of India’s withdrawal,”said Syed admitted, “and since the event was a major revenue-earner for uswe suffered badly.”Syed estimates that India’s last-minute withdrawal had cost the ACC anestimated $30million. “We hope to get a sponsor for the final, but it’sstill much below earnings than the last time.”Efforts are now focused on renewing cricket ties in time for the Asia Cup -a six nation one-day tournament – later this year in Pakistan.Pakistan, at least, will be delighted to welcome back international cricketafter the US invasion in Afghanistan prompted the cancellation of tours byNew Zealand and Sri Lanka, plus the rescheduling of the West Indies seriesin Sharjah.Indeed, Pakistan’s Cricket Board (PCB) had also proposed a five-matchone-day series in addition to the ATC final according to AFP, but the SriLankan Board turned that down with the team preparing in March for theforthcoming tour of England.