COVID-19: 20 Pakistan players cleared to travel to England on Sunday

Lahore, June 27 (IANS) Having done their complete coronavirus testing, the Pakistan Cricket Board announced the name of 20 players who have been cleared to fly to England on Sunday to play three Tests and as many T20Is against the English team.

Taking to Twitter, PCB named the squad which will be led by Azhar Ali and Babar Azam will be the deputy for the Test matches. The limited-overs team will be led by Babar.

Earlier the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) had confirmed that the Pakistan team will arrive in the UK on Sunday to start preparation for this summers tour of England. This announcement from the ECB came even though as many as ten Pakistan players had tested positive for COVID-19.

However, there is still no clarity on the dates for the series which the ECB are planning to announce the behind-closed-doors schedule in ‘due course’.

“They (Pakistan team) will start a 14-day isolation period at Blackfinch New Road, Worcester before transferring to Derbyshire’s The Incora County Ground on July 13 to accelerate their preparation ahead of the first Test, which will include two four-day internal warm-up matches,” stated the ECB.

“All members of the tour party will have been tested prior to travel. Those who are testing positive for COVID-19 will not be permitted to travel with the advance group on Sunday,” it added.

SQUAD: Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Iftikhar Ahmad, Imad Wasim, Imam-ul-Haq, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Abbas, Musa Khan, Naseem Shah, Rohail Nazir, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shaheen Afridi, Shan Masood, Sohail Khan, Usman Shinwari and Yasir Shah.

–IANS

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