Hosts take £4.4m hit to protect touring party

PAKISTAN are set to lose money on England’s first visit in 17 years with presidential-level security costing £4.4million alone. However, such is the desire to make touring the country feel ‘normal’ again that the Pakistan Cricket Board were prepared to take the financial hit, just as they did in the spring when Australia were here for Test and white-ball series. Pakistan were starved of hosting international matches for a decade following the ambush of the Sri Lanka team bus by terrorists in Lahore in 2009. And now they have it back, the PCB and Pakistan government know they cannot afford any slip-ups, meaning the players have been given the same treatment usually reserved for heads of state.

England have hundreds of armed officers at their hotel and are followed everywhere by plain-clothed bodyguards. The Pakistan and England teams travel in unison on training and match days, with snipers on buildings and soldiers lining central reservations en route. Even the spider-cam above the National Stadium was taken down amid concerns that its overhead wires would prevent a helicopter landing in the middle of the playing area should an evacuation be necessary. Meanwhile, Azeem Rafiq has written to the ECB asking for the disciplinary hearings involving seven former Yorkshire players — including Michael Vaughan, Matthew Hoggard and Tim Bresnan — on racism charges to be held in public. The Cricket Discipline Commission are due to meet next month.

The ECB, who did not comment last night, are expected to decline Rafiq’s request, as making the hearing public could compromise their ability to secure important witnesses.