England's Tour Of Pakistan Set To Be Postponed: Report

England’s much-anticipated tour of Pakistan is reportedly set to postponed at least until September or October. The series was expected to take place at the end of January. However, all the plans are set to be abandoned on the grounds of cost and availability.

England would have only managed to send the equivalent of a C team to Pakistan because of their other commitments. Their Test squad will be busy with series in Sri Lanka and India in January while a big contingent of their limited-overs stars would be in Australia for the upcoming Big Bash League.

In such a scenario, they would not have been able to send their strongest team to Pakistan. England are touring Pakistan after a big gap of 15 years and thus the parties decided to postpone the series as both boards agreed that such a historic occasion warranted a full-strength England squad, according to ESPNcricinfo.

The report further stated that the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) had reservations about devaluing international caps by awarding them to players who might, in ordinary circumstances, be considered third- or fourth-choice.

As far as the cost of the trip is concerned, it would have been around £800,000.  England were planning on arranging a training camp in the UAE and hiring a charter flight for the team, as per the report. The trip of Pakistan would have lasted as little as 96 hours as the plan was to play two or three games in Karachi during that period.

The lack of big names in the English camp might also have had a knock-on effect on the value of the broadcasting deal in Pakistan. Both the teams are now likely to use the postponed series as preparation for the T20 World Cup which is scheduled to be played in India in October and November.

The report stated that England are likely to leave for Pakistan as soon as the domestic season finishes in late September. They are likely to play at least three T20Is in Pakistan with their full-strength squad. The tour was planned after Pakistan endured tough pandemic conditions to visit England earlier this year.

While England are scheduled to visit Pakistan in 2022 for a Test series, PCB wanted them to visit sooner to show the ECB’s support for the return of international cricket to the country.

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