Pakistan has sent a two-man team to the United Arab Emirates to assess security arrangements for next month's series against Australia amid heightened safety demands, an official said Tuesday.

Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif in Karachi resigned as the batting coach of Afghanistan's national cricket team citing irreconcilable differences with the officials and the Afghan association.

Ireland, stung by two dispiriting defeats, finally got their act together with a six-wicket win over Afghanistan in a hastily-arranged practice match. The result will not only boost the Irish but will also dampen the considerable hype surrounding the Afghan side.

Eight years ago the Afghan cricket team made their first foreign cricket tour, a 200-mile coach journey across the Pakistan border from Kabul to Rawalpindi. There they played five games against club second XIs. Now the team find themselves eight games away from the World Cup.

After finishing runners-up in the World Cricket League Division 2 in Namibia, Oman now face a tough challenge in the ICC World Cup Qualifiers in South Africa next week. Adjusting to foreign conditions is part of that challenge, but the Oman captain, Hemal Mehta, is confident that all the hard yards put in training over the last few months would eventually pay off.