England will play two additional Twenty20s in Pakistan subsequent yr as a part of compensation for cancelling a brief tour of the nation scheduled final month.
“We’re happy to announce that we’ll be playing two extra white ball T20s on our (next year’s) tour of Pakistan,” stated Tom Harrison, chief government of the England and Wales Cricket Board, after assembly with the Pakistan Cricket Board in Lahore on Tuesday.
The seven-match T20 collection between Pakistan and England is predicted to be performed earlier than the T20 World Cup in Australia subsequent October, after which England will return in November-December for its first check collection in Pakistan since 2005.
“I don’t think there’s a cricketer in England that doesn’t want to test his abilities against the huge talent that is in this country (Pakistan), in the conditions they know best,” Harrison stated.
The relationship between the boards soured when England pulled out in September from a deliberate week-long T20 tour, citing participant well being causes. The resolution was broadly panned, particularly as Pakistan was the primary workforce to go to England final yr within the pandemic and spent months in a bubble.
Harrison’s go to to Pakistan got here a day after the PCB introduced Australia was coming for a full tour in March-April after a lapse of 24 years. Harrison made the quick journey to Pakistan en path to the ICC chief executives assembly within the United Arab Emirates subsequent week.
PCB chair Rameez Raja stated their rising frustration following the tour-ending choices by New Zealand and England in September “have been absolutely quietened” by the go to of Harrison.
“It’s so important for ECB and PCB to be on the same page, and we discussed a lot of issues,” Raja stated. “Moving forward, (we are) extremely excited because we needed England’s support as you recall and know that we’ve put in a lot of effort to make sure that the visiting teams are comfortable in Pakistan.”
England and Pakistan are within the T20 World Cup semifinals this week, and in the event that they beat New Zealand and Australia respectively, they might meet within the ultimate in Dubai on Sunday.
“That will be the icing on the cake with Pakistan winning, of course,” Raja quipped.
