The Int'l Cricket Council is "planning to send a World XI to Pakistan in late September for a four-match Twenty20 series in Lahore that will look to build on the successful staging of the Pakistan Super League final in the city on Sunday," according to Ali Martin of the London GUARDIAN. The four-match series at the Gaddafi Stadium -- to be called The Independence Cup to mark the 70th anniversary of partition -- is "intended to continue the reintroduction of top-level cricket to the country." Details of which players will feature in the World XI are "yet to be established." Six overseas cricketers withdrew from Sunday's PSL final following the tournament's switch from the United Arab Emirates. Sunday's match passed "without incident." England & Wales Cricket Board President Giles Clarke heads the ICC's Pakistan Task Force and said that "the PSL final, while not simply a test run for the World XI series in itself, has shown cricket can be staged in Lahore." Clarke added, "The desire is to give the cricket-starved Pakistani supporters the chance to see some of the world's finest players in live action. The world of cricket needs to help Pakistan." The World XI series overseas team will assemble in Dubai on Sept. 17, before flying to Lahore for four matches on Sept. 22, 23, 28 and 29, and "follow a similar security plan to the PSL final" (GUARDIAN, 3/6).
