West Indies pull out of Canada quadrangular

West Indies have pulled out of the four-nation Twenty20 tournament in Canada next month after their request to postpone it by two weeks was turned down. The tournament, scheduled from October 10-13 at the Maple Leaf ground in Toronto, will now feature Zimbabwe alongside Pakistan, Sri Lanka and hosts Canada.

"We have confirmation for the tournament to be played at Maple Leaf ground," Nauman Nabi, chairman of Sports International Marketing, the tournament organisers, told AFP. "West Indies have some problems adjusting to the new dates so they wanted the event to be further delayed, which considering the cold weather of Canada was not possible, so we replaced them with Zimbabwe."

The tournament was originally scheduled between August 14-17 but had to be postponed due to sponsorship issues. Bangladesh were slated to feature in the tournament, but the revised dates clash with their home series against New Zealand.

Pakistan has remained committed to the series from its inception, and for a good reason too, given that they've been starved of international cricket of late. Following the postponement of the Champions Trophy, which they were meant to host this month, plans for a proposed tri-series in South Africa and a short ODI series at home against Sri Lanka also fell through. Pakistan have also invited West Indies for a two-Test series in November.