SOME VENUES OF PAKISTAN DROPPED

[Kalbaisakhi]

The South African cricket authorities decided to meet on Tuesday to discuss a revised itinerary, which drops Karachi and Peshawar as match venues and limits the two tests and three one-day matches to Lahore, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad.

"The tour is confirmed and there are no problems with that," PCB chief executive Rameez Raja told Reuters in Karachi. "But we are in the process of finalising the itinerary.

"We are now looking at a shortened and revised tour programme of two tests and five one-day internationals," he added.

South Africa had initially been scheduled to play three one-day internationals and three tests, at Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi, between September 26 and October 27.

Pakistan has been a no-go zone for most cricketing nations since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

In May 2002, a suicide bomb outside a Karachi hotel where the New Zealand team were staying prompted a cancellation of the tour.

India called off a tour in April because of tensions over Kashmir.