England agree to play 2 additional T20Is to existing five matches on Pakistan tour
England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has agreed to play two additional T20 Internationals to the existing five-match series next year when they are scheduled to tour Pakistan. The Men’s and Women’s team was scheduled to tour the country just before the T20 World Cup this year. But the tour didn’t go ahead after New Zealand withdrew from the entire Pakistan tour minutes before the first ODI.
It was chaos among the PCB officials after the last minute pull out from New Zealand citing security reasons. This was followed by even ECB not sending their Men’s and Women’s teams not stating ‘security threat’ as the reason which was weird again. Pakistan had to bear huge losses as they were prepared for one of the biggest home seasons and were left with almost no international cricket in the lead up to the World Cup.
However, ECB Chief Executive Tom Harrison flew to Pakistan to repair the board’s relations with the PCB soon after Australia’s tour to Pakistan was finalised. Within 24 hours of that news, ESPNCricinfo reported the development of England agreeing to play two additional T20Is making a seven-match series in September-October next year.
The detailed itinerary may follow soon like it happened with the Australia tour the other day. The Aussie are set to tour Pakistan for the first time in 24 years in March-April next year.
England will tour for the first time since 2005
This is a huge development for Pakistan Cricket after things looked grim not so long ago post New Zealand’s last-minute withdrawal. Though it is one year late, England again seem to be committed to the tour this time after the outrage that followed post their denial to send the team last month. This will be the first time since 2005 that they will be touring Pakistan and certainly, international cricket is returning in full flow to the country.
Meanwhile, England and Pakistan have both reached the semi-final of the ongoing T20 World Cup in the UAE. If both of them win their respective matches, the two teams will end up facing each other in the final on November 14.
