Enjoying my stay in Pakistan, says Nick Hockley

Nick Hockley, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Cricket Australia (CA), said he is enjoying his time in Pakistan as the three-match Test series against Pakistan began on Friday.

According to the CA official, Pakistan is a welcoming country, and the current visit will help repair the relationship between the two cricket boards.

“Today is such a historic day, we’ve been looking forward to it and I could not be more thrilled to be here in Pakistan. The welcome that we’ve received has been just really overwhelming and the excitement among our playing group has just been palpable,” he said.

Nick Hockley praised the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and its “wonderful team effort,” and expressed enthusiasm for the upcoming tour.

“On behalf of Cricket Australia, I just want to say an enormous thank you to the PCB, to everyone in Pakistan and the ACA. I think it’s been a wonderful team effort and we just can’t wait for that first ball to be bowled,” he added.

Nick told the media that the West Indies’ tour to Pakistan provided CA a lot of confidence in their ability to pull off this tour.

“I think the key moment that gave us great confidence was the pre-tour of West Indies series and the feedback from the security official was also very positive. The PCB security officials helped us assess things better which brought more comfort to us,” he said.

“We haven’t been here in 24 years, so it was more fear of the unknown. But having the team come here and observe the incredible operations here on the ground gave us great confidence,” he concluded.