Daily Times

LAHORE: A 20-member Pakistan squad, led by Azhar Ali, will leave for England on Sunday (today) on a chartered flight for a three-Test and three T20I series to be played in August and September there. T20 skipper Babar Azam will be deputy of Azhar in Tests. Eleven support officials will also accompany the national outfit for the sixty-day tour. Upon arrival in Manchester, the squad will be transported to Worcestershire where they will undergo the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) testing before completing their 14-day isolation period, during which they will be allowed to train and practice. The side will move to Derbyshire on July 13. “In positive news, all 18 players and 11 player support personnel, who had tested negative for Covid-19 in the first round of tests on Monday, have again returned negative in Thursday’s retests. Besides the 29 members, tests of fast bowler Musa Khan and Pakistan Under-19 captain and wicketkeeper Rohail Nazir, along with three other reserve players, were also conducted on Thursday and they have also returned negative. As such, Musa and Rohail have been included in the first group of travellers,” said a spokesman for the PCB on Saturday.

The PCB spokesman added that following advice from leading sports science experts and as per the UK government regulations, players who had tested positive during the PCB testing process would be unable to travel on Sunday. “However, they will be sent to England as soon as their two tests return negative.” Amongst the four reserves players, who were tested on Wednesday, only Imran Butt has tested positive, while the tests of Bilal Asif, Mohammad Nawaz and Musa Khan were negative. PCB Chief Executive Wasim Khan said in a statement: “This was a challenging and unprecedented process that we have conducted and I am pleased that following a second round of testing, we are able to confirm 20 players and 11 player support personnel will travel to Manchester on Sunday. Due to the increasing number of national cases and availability of testing labs in some players’ hometowns, I think the PCB medical panel have done a good job to get us through this process. Based on the national spread of players, there were always going to be some logistical challenges; we have taken a number of learnings from the process that we will take forward with us. Lastly, on behalf of the PCB, I want to once again urge the Pakistan cricket fans and followers to support the government in their fight against coronavirus by strictly following its instructions. Only through taking personal responsibility can we begin to eradicate this virus.”

It is expected that the first Test will take place in Manchester in August but the England and Wales Cricket Board said the behind-closed-doors match schedule would be announced in “due course”. Pakistan is experiencing a surge in coronavirus cases, with nearly 200,000 declared cases and more than 4,000 deaths, while cases are falling in Britain. England return to action following the COVID-19 stoppage with three Tests against the West Indies next month with the first scheduled to begin in Southampton on July 8 without fans.

Pakistan squad for England:

Players: Azhar Ali (captain), Babar Azam (vice-captain), Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Iftikhar Ahmad, Imad Wasim, Imamul Haq, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Abbas, Musa Khan, Naseem Shah, Rohail Nazir, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Sohail Khan, Usman Shinwari and Yasir Shah. Zafar Gohar, the left-arm spinner who played an ODI in 2015, will join the side from England and will only be involved in pre-match preparations while Shoaib Malik is expected to travel around July 24.

Player support personnel:

Mansoor Rana (manager), Misbah-ul-Haq (head coach), Younis Khan (batting coach), Mushtaq Ahmed (spin bowling coach), Shahid Aslam (assistant coach), Abdul Majeed (fielding coach), Talha Butt (team analyst), Yasir Malik (strength and conditioning coach), Dr Sohail Saleem (team doctor), Lt Col (retd) Usman Riffat (security manager) and Raza Kitchlew (media and digital content manager). Cliffe Deacon and Waqar Younis will join the side directly from South Africa and Australia, respectively.