ECB put safe return plan to Pakistan
PAKISTAN have been asked to play three Tests and three Twenty20 internationals in a 28-day period as part of England’s plans for a biosecure summer of cricket.
On Friday, the Pakistan Cricket Board were provided with a visual presentation by the ECB of the environment they can expect to be in place for their players and staff should they agree to tour in a truncated 2020 season.
The Test series has been pencilled in for an August 5 start and the final T20 is slated for September 1. All matches will be held at either the Ageas Bowl or Old Trafford, although an official itinerary of dates and venues will only be drawn up once England’s Test fixtures versus West Indies take full shape.
That could happen as early as tomorrow when the ECB and Cricket West Indies hold further talks on salvaging England’s home commitments — and thus limit coronavirusinduced losses to £100million for the summer.
PCB chief executive Wasim Khan said he had been ‘very encouraged’ by what he had seen and heard in the first official discussions between the two boards and would be feeding back to the national squad.
The plans include a Pakistan squad of around 25 players arriving here in early July on a chartered flight and spending the 14-day quarantine period required by the UK Government for foreign arrivals at one venue.
That would almost certainly be Edgbaston given its geographical positioning between Manchester and Southampton. Although it doesn’t house its own hotel, it has several access routes, separate net areas both indoors and outdoors, multiple dressing rooms and a nursery ground where Pakistan could arrange an internal practice match.
Travel will be limited as much as possible to aid a proposed period of 18 days of international cricket punctuated by 10 days off. Only three-to-four-day gaps are anticipated between Tests and the Twenty20 series would be over in five days. During that four-week period, the tourists would be housed in isolated wings of hotels.
Meanwhile, an expanded group of England bowlers — including the Overton twins Craig and Jamie, Lancashire’s Saqib Mahmood and Ollie Robinson, of Sussex — will begin their return to training at seven venues this week.
A decision on Jofra Archer’s return to action, following three months of inactivity due to a stress fracture of the elbow, is expected by the England medical team tomorrow.