While cricket has come to a halt due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has agreed to go ahead with the Test and T20 tour England in July.
While cricket has come to a halt due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has agreed to go ahead with the Test and T20 tour England in July.
They have, however, said that they will not force players to agree for the assignment should they have reservations owing to the pandemic.
PCB chief executive Wasim Khan told a Pakistani news channel that they have agreed “in principle” to the tour comprising three Tests and three T20 Internationals.
“We had a very detailed and comprehensive discussion with the England Cricket Board (ECB) on Friday regarding the tour and PCB has now agreed in principle to send our cricket team to England in July,” Wasim said.
The two boards had discussions via video link on Friday and it was agreed that Pakistan would play the matches behind closed doors at grounds that have hotels inside it. However, the players won’t be made to go against their wishes.
“If a player doesn’t want to go, we will accept their decision and take no disciplinary action,” Khan said, adding that, according to him, every player wants to join the tour. Khan said that the 25 players, who will be traveling to England on four chartered flights in the first week of July, will be put in quarantine.
“Manchester and Southampton will be the likely venues for the Test series and the ECB will announce a third venue soon,” Khan said.
“Bio-secure arrangements will be made by the host country and medical staff will remain with our team throughout the tour. We will test all our players and regular temperature checks will be ensured. It’s very important that cricket is revived during these challenging times,” he added.
Khan said he will brief Test captain Azhar Ali and ODI-T20 captain, Babar Azam, about the tour next week. All players will be briefed fully on England’s preparations for the tour.
The PCB chief also added that clearance about the tour would be sought from the government. The England and Wales Cricket Board is struggling to overcome the financial crisis with cricket being put on hold due to COVID-19.
The ECB had earlier announced that its players would be returning to training under strict guidelines. As for England, they have recorded more than 27,000 deaths because of the pandemic and over 130,000 confirmed cases.
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