ENGLAND EMBRACE WAIT OF HISTORY

McCullum’s men are proud to return after 17 years away but want rare series glory

IF a week is a long time in sport, then what about 17 years?

In cricketing terms it is two generations worth of English red-ball talent who never had the chance to challenge themselves against Pakistan’s best in their own backyard.

And what a challenge it is too, with England having won just one series and two matches in Pakistan in their history.

Ben Stokes’ team will try to improve those stats over the next few weeks.

And as they do, their presence back in Pakistan for the oldest format of the game will already be a victory of sorts as their hosts can once again show how rich and vibrant both their country and their cricket is.

England coach Brendon McCullum said: “Obviously things were difficult for Pakistan not having any international cricket here for a long period of time with fans unable to grow up watching their players in their own backyard.

“Now international cricket is back here, hopefully that does unlock a real passion that Pakistani people have for cricket.

“I’m really happy to be here, I can’t stress how well we’ve been looked after so far in a short space of time.”

McCullum (below) made no secret of his desire to see England continue with their aggressive style of play which was not a world away from how the team played back in the Ashes winning summer of 2005 and when they last toured Pakistan with the likes of Andrew Flintoff, Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Strauss and Ashley Giles.

Since then two of them have been and gone as the managing directors of England men’s cricket, one is now a batting coach with the squad and the other is a Top Gear presenter. How things have changed. The reason for the missing matches was down to a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in 2009 in the middle of a Test match in Lahore. It sent shockwaves through the sport and the country and meant the Pakistan national team were sent to play in exile in the UAE while security and safety of teams could not be guaranteed.

It was a body blow to the sport in a country that has consistently produced some of the finest cricketers the game has ever seen.

And it is easy to see why the production line remains strong when the game is as popular here as it is in India or anywhere else for that matter.

There might be a football World Cup taking place right now just a short hop over the Gulf of Oman in Qatar. But the impromptu games of cricket being played everywhere, even on the grass

in the middle of a roundabout, tells you where the sporting focus remains in Pakistan.

It is a love for the game that had to go unrequited for more than a decade as their heroes played exclusively overseas until Sri Lanka returned for the first Test back in Pakistan in 2019.

At the time former Warwickshire batsman and ex-Leicestershire CEO Wasim Khan was the Pakistan Cricket Board chief.

And he said: “We have a generation of Pakistani cricketers and supporters who have not seen their heroes play on home soil.

“We will now play our matches in Pakistan, the security and safety is fine.”

With presidential levels of security offered to travelling teams including an MCC tour led by Andy Flower in 2020, Khan was proved right as South Africa followed in 2021 and Australia played and won a three Test series earlier this year.

With Pakistan helping England to ‘keep the lights on’ by touring in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, this return visit is long overdue.