BIRMINGHAM: This year marks the 70 years of cricketing relationships between Pakistan and England and to celebrate that Warwickshire County Cricket Club (CCC) will be hosting a series of events at Edgbaston during the upcoming tour of Pakistan women and men teams revealed club’s Chief Executive Stuart Cain in an exclusive interview with Geo News.
Pakistan women and men’s cricket teams are visiting England this month for white ball series and Edgbaston is set to host both women and men’s T20I fixtures on May 11 and May 26, respectively.
This will be first time ever Pakistan men team will be playing a T20I match at this venue and it’s same for women who will be playing against England for the first time in Birmingham.
The club will be hosting a reception on the eve of men’s T20I game where officials from ECB and PCB are expected to attend the event and the guest of honour will be Pakistan’s oldest living Test cricketer Wazir Muhammad, who was member of the team which won the famous Oval Test way back in 1954 Stuart Cain told Geo.
“We are working with the Pakistan Consulate and some local businessmen to hold a reception here at Edgbaston involving the PCB where we celebrate the fact that this is the 70th year of Pakistan playing in England.
“The first game was back in 1954 and we’re blessed that Wazir Muhammad who played in that match lives here in Birmingham and also his brother Mushtaq. We will be inviting them along as guests of honours so we can have a really good night to celebrate the long history of playing England versus Pakistan and also some of the many great games they had here at Edgbaston.” Although Pakistan women team has played international matches previously at Edgbaston during the commonwealth games in 2022 but this will be first time, they will be playing a T20I match against England at this venue.
To mark this occasion the club is working with the Consulate of Pakistan in Birmingham to invite young girls from local schools, situated mainly in areas where residents are largely from Pakistani origin.
The Warwickshire CCC chief also told Geo that the public response for both men’s and women games have been overwhelming. The men’s contest has long been fully sold out whereas more than 12,000 tickets for the women’s T20I so far have been sold. This will be the first time the international cricketing season in England will kick start with a women’s match.