Pakistan players will be given option to withdraw from England tour

KARACHI: Pakistan’s players will have the option to withdraw from this summer’s tour of England even if the country’s cricket authorities decide in favour of sending the national team to the United Kingdom.

The Pakistanis are supposed to play three Tests in England during July-August but the series had been in doubt because of the prevailing Covid-19 situation globally with UK being one of the worst-hit countries.

However, in recent days there have been developments which suggest that the series might happen after all especially after the British government announced a new strategy to deal with the pandemic earlier this week.

Pakistan, too, have announced that they are open about touring England but have linked the series with health and safety assurances for their players.

In addition, well-placed sources told ‘The News’ on Tuesday that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will provide its players the option of withdrawing from the England series even if it decides to go ahead with the tour.

“There is a big likelihood that the PCB will decide in favour of touring England for a variety of reasons,” a source said. “Firstly, the Board is expecting a sound plan from its English counterparts regarding the health and safety of the players. Secondly, it wants the team to tour England which would be a huge favour for ECB and would pave the path for England touring Pakistan next year.”

The PCB has already announced that it would not compromise on players’ safety and will only give its nod of approval to the tour once it is convinced that ECB will assure bio-secure conditions for the visitors during their travel and stay in the UK.

“But there is a possibility that some players might feel unsafe about travelling. Such players will be allowed to skip the tour by the PCB,” the source said.

Meanwhile, according to reports, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) might be able to save the summer after the new UK government strategy to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.

As part of its phased plans to build an economic recovery, the UK government has announced that it aims to allow some sporting events “to take place behind closed-doors for broadcast” from June 1.

While Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister, suggested there were morale-building reasons behind this return of sport, telling parliament that “allowing cultural and sporting events behind closed doors for broadcast... would provide a much-needed boost to national morale”, it is no doubt equally relevant that such a return could help avoid the financial catastrophe currently being faced by various governing bodies.

While the ECB expects greater clarity from the government later this week - it is anticipated there will be a specific announcement relating to elite sport on Tuesday or Wednesday - and remains reluctant to commit itself to a schedule, it continues to use July 8 as a potential start date to the international season. To that end, it is understood the ECB hopes to unveil individual training plans, for both England’s men and women’s cricketers, within days.

For that July 8 date to become a reality, some players - notably England’s bowlers - are expected to return to training by the end of this month.

In the early days of June, it is hoped that batsmen will be able to return to the nets - again, with one coach and one medic - before a training camp is formed towards the end of the month. Testing for the virus is likely to be conducted often.

The requirement that anyone flying into the UK must self-isolate for 14 days is a further complication. As things stand, it is understood that sporting teams will not be exempt from such a rule and that they would not be permitted to train during that period. For that reason, West Indies are aiming to arrive in the UK four weeks ahead of the scheduled start of their fixtures to give themselves two weeks in isolation and then two weeks of preparation. With the team drawn from several nations, they also face the prospect of a lengthy period of self-isolation at the other end of the tour.

With the England squad keen to undergo some warm-up cricket ahead of any international series, it is expected that around 30 players will be named in their squads. Those on central contracts have never been placed on furlough, but it seems inevitable others who have will be taken off the scheme in the coming weeks. —with inputs from agencies