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The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is committed to sending a team to Pakistan next year.

But it is yet to receive a response from Pakistani authorities, according to the board's chief executive officer Gregory Shillingford, who says it is an issue that ultimately has to be settled between the two boards.

His comments come against the background of reports from Karachi that the Pakistan Cricket Board had asked the International Cricket Council (ICC) to intervene and convince West Indies to undertake a scheduled tour early next year.

I have been in discussions with the Pakistan authorities and we have offered them to come to Pakistan in 2002, Shillingford said.

They have not replied to that and at the end of the day, matters have to be settled between the two boards. Going to the ICC will not resolve the matter.

West Indies were originally scheduled to visit Pakistan in February and March next year before engaging India and New Zealand in home series between April and June.

Earlier this year, the WICB joined the other Test-playing nations in agreeing to the ICC's Test championship programme.

The board is committed to the programme, but Shillingford said at the last ICC meeting, it tried to resolve matters that caused concern in terms of the feasibility of some of these tours.

It's a commitment which can be reviewed. Nonetheless, we agreed in principle to the ten-year programme, the WICB chief executive said.

We are committed to the four-year and five-year cycle of reciprocal tours and we will honour that commitment.

The ICC programme was devised to allow all ten Test teams to play each other on a home and away basis. Pakistan feel that if the West Indies do not make the tour, it could result in heavy financial losses, as was the case last year when India opted not to make a scheduled tour.

Pakistan were also planning to host the West Indies in 1999, but that tour did not materialise either.

© The Barbados Nation