Cricket: Pakistan to host Windies for next five years from 2018

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(Reuters) - Pakistan will host West Indies in a three-match Twenty20 series in March and the Caribbean side will be playing in the South Asian country every year for the next five years, the Pakistan Cricket Board has said.

West Indies will also host a reciprocal series against Pakistan, probably in the United States, as part of the agreement. A third team will also play the U.S. series.

"We have an agreement with West Indies for the next five years," PCB chairman Najam Sethi said in comments published by Dawn newspaper.

"This is an independent bilateral arrangement, independent of the FTPs (Future Tour Programmes) that would be arranged with the International Cricket Council in December/January."

The first series will be held from March 29-April 1 next year in Pakistan, but venues are still to be determined.

Pakistan had largely been shunned by international teams for the past eight years due to security concerns following an attack by gunmen on the bus carrying the Sri Lankan team in 2009.

The attack injured six Sri Lankan players and killed six security personnel and two civilians and Pakistan have since played almost all of their 'home' matches in the United Arab Emirates.

Zimbabwe had a limited overs tour in May, 2015, however, Sri Lanka's Twenty20 match in Lahore last month is considered as marking the end of the isolation, with Sethi telling Reuters at the time that the West Indies had committed to tour but dates still had to be finalised.

(Writing by Greg Stutchbury in Wellington; Editing by Sudipto Ganguly)

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