Cricket Pulse

Pakistan will be looking to win a four-nation Twenty20 tournament in Canada next month to boost their morale ahead of September’s ICC Champions Trophy.

The Pakistanis will begin their campaign in the Toronto quadrangular with a opening day clash against hosts Canada on August 14.West Indies and Bangladesh - the other two teams in the contest - will play in the tournament opener earlier in the day.

The four-nation event will be played from August 14-17. Canada have confirmed they will take part in the event which is being held in their country after finally signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the tournament sponsors, Sports International Marketing of Pakistan.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board confirmed the dates of the competition last week, but the host country were waiting for the MOU to be signed by the marketing company.

Pakistan, whose board are organising the competition, are also participating, while West Indies are still to confirm.

There had been question marks over the tournament coming off when the original organisers backed out, but a new company came to the rescue. Each team will play the other once, meaning three matches, ahead of a final and a third-place play-off, both matches on August 17.

A PCB official said on Monday that since the Canadians have confirmed the tournament, Pakistan will announce their 15-member squad for the event within the next few days.