Pakistan Super Veterans leave for England today

KARACHI: Pakistan’s Super Veterans (over-60) cricket team will leave for a two-week tour of England on Saturday (today).

According to the information made available here on Friday, all-rounder Fawad Ijaz Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Veterans Cricket Association (PVCA), will lead the squad, which is scheduled to play five limited-overs matches in England.

Ijaz Faqih, a former Test all-rounder, has been appointed the vice-captain for what’s going to be the first-ever tour to be undertaken by Super Veterans of the country. Ashiq Hussain Qureshi, CEO, PVCA, will be accompanying the team as the manager. Former Test bowler Jalaluddin and Kaleem Zia Khawaja will be travelling as the head coach and the assistant manager, respectively.

The Super Veteran squad includes former Test players Mansoor Akhtar and Ashraf Ali, P J Mir, who represented Pakistan by the name of Pervez Mir during the inaugural World Cup in 1975, and Nadeem Omar, Karachi City Cricket Association’s (KCCA) president.

The other members of the touring squad are Arif Habib, Tahir Shah, Basharat Ali Babar, Haji Ashraf, Badar Ansari, Aminullah Khan Raisani, Sajid Kabir and Nadeem Yousuf. Muhammad Akram and Altaf Aziz are the reserve players.

Pakistan’s Super Veterans will be playing a couple of matches of 50 overs each against hosts England and the touring Australian Veterans Team. They will also play three 45-overs-a-side matches against Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cheshire.

They will open the tour with a game against Yorkshire at Woodlands Cricket Club, Bradford, on June 17 before taking on Lancashire at Heywood Cricket Club, Heywood, on June 19. They will be up against England Veterans at Oswestry Cricket Club, Shropshire, on June 21 before meeting Australian Veterans at the same venue three days later. They will play the final game of the tour against Cheshire at Warrington Cricket Club, Warrington, on June 26.