TWO TEAMS MAY HEAD OFF ON WINTER TOURS

ENGLAND’S unrelenting schedule has opened the prospect of two teams touring simultaneously for the second winter in a row this year.

Although arrangements are yet to be finalised, it appears there will be some crossover between the end of limited-overs matches in Australia, which is provisionally dated to finish on November 25, and the warm-up period of a three-Test series in Pakistan, due to start in December.

The England squads start their winter travelling in September, when Eoin Morgan takes his Twenty20 side to Pakistan for a seven-match series as warm-up to the World Cup in Australia.