Hafeez among 6 players cleared to join squad ater testing negative
Hafeez, Riaz, Hasnain, Shadab, Rizwan and Zaman are now eligible to travel to England and join the 20-player party and 11 coaching staff who let on Sunday, said the Pakistan Cricket Board
Six players have been cleared to join Pakistan’s cricket tour to England ater recording two successive negative COVID-19 tests, officials said on Tuesday.
But the other four of 10 players who originally came up positive for coronavirus last week will have to stay behind ater failing further tests.
Mohammad Hafeez, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Hasnain, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman are now eligible to travel to England and join the 20-player party and 11 coaching staff who let on Sunday, said the Pakistan Cricket Board.
“All the six players were retested on Monday, following their first negative test on June 26,” the PCB said.
However, Imran Khan, Kashif Bhati, Haider Ali and Haris Rauf tested positive for a second time. They will not be allowed to travel to England until they have recorded two consecutive negative tests. Pakistan will play three Tests and three Twenty20 internationals against England starting in August.
Pakistan’s squad arrived in England late Sunday and have started a 14-day mandatory quarantine period in Worcester before they move to Derby on July 13 for intra-squad practice games.
Meanwhile, all 20 players and 11 management personnel in the Pakistan touring party have tested negative for coronavirus since arriving in Britain, the England and Wales Cricket Board said on Tuesday.
The ECB added that England’s latest round of tests, for their training group and management conducted on Monday had also yielded a complete set of negative results. England players and staff have now had three COVID-19 tests.
Meanwhile, wicketkeeper batsman Kamran Akmal has said that he has not been able to make a comeback into the Pakistan team because of bias that “couple of coaches” have had against him in the recent past. Akmal, who last played for Pakistan in April 2017, was not included in the 29-man squad for the England tour.
“I have been performing in domestic cricket and PSL (Pakistan Super League) during the last five years but despite that I have not been given a chance to play for Pakistan. In the recent past, a couple of coaches did not like me which is why I remained on the sidelines,” Kamran said on the ‘Inside Out’ show on Cricket Pakistan.
“It’s unfair to keep me out of the Test and T20I side, especially, because I can play solely as a batsman. If Mathew Wade can make a comeback with an average of 18-20, why not me who averages nearly 60.”
Earlier, Kamran has come to the defence of brother Umar who has been banned from the sport for three years for breaching the PCB Anti-corruption Code in two separate incidents.
Citing example of former captain Inzamam-ulHaq’s handling of certain players, Kamran stated the team management should have done more to keep his younger brother out of controversies.
“Off the field activities are nothing new in Pakistan cricket. Team management and captain should know how to deal with such players,” Kamran was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
“Look at the way Inzi bhai (Inzamam) handled Shoaib (Akhtar), Asif and Shahid (Afridi). If the same was done with Umar Akmal, things would have turned out differently,” he added.
Akmal was charged with two breaches of Article 2.4.4 of the PCB Anti-corruption Code in two unrelated incidents on March 17. On April 9, the PCB referred the mater to the Chairman of the Independent Disciplinary Commitee ater the batsman opted not to request for a hearing before the Anti-corruption Tribunal.
Chairman of the Independent Disciplinary Panel, Justice (retired) Fazal-e-miran Chauhan, had earlier submited his detailed judgement on the case to the Pakistan Cricket Board.
Justice Chauhan had imposed a ban of three years for each of the two charges of violating the PCB Anti-corruption Code, which was deemed to have come into effect from the date of Umar Akmal’s suspension i.e. Feb.20, 2020.
Both periods of ineligibility will run concurrently, meaning Umar will now become eligible to return to cricket activities on Feb. 19, 2023.