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Three officials of Australian Cricket Board (ACB) and New Zealand manager Jeff Crowe are scheduled to arrive here in Karachi Thursday on a pre-tour visit.

New Zealand are expected to rescheduled their tour between April 20 and May 18 while Australia are due here immediately after this September's ICC KnockOut tournament.

Australian Cricket Board (ACB) has nominated Tim May, chief of the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA), Richard Watson, general manager Operations, and a security officer.

The four officials are expected to stay in country for nearly a week during which they will visit and inspect the proposed venues for the international matches.

Although the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has not officially named the venues for New Zealand matches, Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi are likely to stage the one-dayers while Faisalabad and Karachi may host the Tests. In addition to these centres, the foreign delegates will also visit Sheikhupura, Peshawar and Multan.

Interestingly, it will be Tim May's first visit to Pakistan since he accused disgraced former Pakistan captain Salim Malik of offering bribe during the 1994 series in Pakistan. May was not part of the team that toured in 1998 along with Shane Warne.

Mark Waugh, who also level similar accusations against Salim, was member of Mark Taylor's team and recorded his statement in the inquiry commission of Justice Malik Mohammad Qayyum.

A top PCB official played down the visit of ACB security manager and refused to link his tour to assess overall situation of the country. "He is coming to oversee other security areas for the players, like in the stadia and in team hotels. Australians are very security conscious and rightly so, need to get all information before undertaking a tour pocket," he said.

© Dawn