Pakistan to land in Emirates today

Pakistan will arrive in the country this morning for a "home series" against South Africa, hoping to put spot-fixing allegations, levelled against three of their players, behind them. 

Pakistan, led by Shahid Afridi, the all-rounder, will play two Twenty20 matches followed by five one-day internationals. Misbah-ul-Haq will then take over the captaincy for the two Tests.

The tour will be played in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, with the first T20 game starting in the capital on Tuesday.

Meanwhile New Zealand Cricket (NZC) resisted quick response to its national team's series whitewash by Bangladesh, forming a committee to examine the state of the game while urging its top players to try harder on next month's tour of India. 

Daniel Vettori, the captain, Mark Greatbatch, the coach, and Roger Mortimer, the performance director, appeared before an NZC "crisis meeting" in Wellington yesterday.