LAHORE/KARACHI: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief executive Wasim Khan said on Saturday that the PCB has in principle agreed to send the national cricket team to tour England after a lengthy teleconference and briefing by England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

“We had a detailed and comprehensive discussion with the ECB on Friday and after that briefing, the PCB has agreed on principle to send the Pakistan cricket team to England in July for three Tests and three T20I series,” said Wasim in an exclusive interview with Dawn. “The detailed presentation was impressive and we are happy with the plans. But we will brief the players next week and a final decision will be made after getting consent from the players and with the permission of the Government.”

Wasim admitted that it is a very tough decision to make in these extra ordinary circumstances because of coronavirus pandemic.

“But is absolutely important to resume cricket though we will not compromise on heath and safety of our players,” he reiterated. “These are very tough and extraordinary times to decide about Pakistan team’s tour to England. But we are satisfied with the briefing of ECB. There’s still a lot to be done in terms of planning and execution of this series and tour.

“Head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq also attended the teleconference and next week I will brief Pakistan cricket team players about the arrangements and briefing of ECB. We want the players to feel secure and satisfied before they head to play cricket in England and also we will take the Government permission before announcing a final decision,” said Wasim.

Final decision after consulting players next week: Wasim Khan

He sounded confident that all the players will agree for the tour to England. “But I want to make it clear that we will not take any action if any player decides to withdraw from the tour. We will respect his decision and but am confident that all our players will agree to play England.

“For us health and safety of players is the main priority. I am aware and informed that all our players want to play cricket and want to be in action in the middle.

“The PCB has also decided to provide medical insurance cover to the all the families of its 18 recently announced centrally contracted players. The insurance period would start from Aug 1.”

Wasim further said as the British government was also going to ease the restrictions for the professional sports and English Premier Football League was going to start in June, and the ICC was also going to release new regulations about holding the matches under current circumstances, so, all those news would be helpful for a positive outcome about the tour of England.

Sharing the initial plan for the England tour, Wasim said: “The series will take place in close doors and Manchester and South Hampton will be likely venues for the three Test series while ECB will also share a third venue for the series. Later on venues for the three-match T20 series will also be finalized.

“It is a very challenging task but we are confident that we will be able to formulate and execute all plans with ECB. A chartered plane will be hired and cost will be borne by ECB to transport the Pakistan team under very strict SOPs and arrangements,. We can send around 25 players to England as our team needs to play intra-squad matches before the series,” disclosed Wasim.

“As we are discussed with ECB, the Pakistan team is likely to land in England in mid July and after the quarantine period, they will start training and play practice matches and first Test likely to start from Aug 5”

Wasim added that Bio Security of players will be implemented and medical staff will remain with the eam and players will be tested when they land in England and also regular temperature checks during the tour will be done. “We will also try and hire hotels which are near the stadiums.”

He clarified that no extra payments for players will be made for this tour “but it will be very important step towards reviving international cricket.”

“There will be no extra payments for the cricketers as they all are professionals and mostly provided with central contracts. As I said players also want cricket to resume and it is very important. Asia Cup and World T20 are also scheduled for this year and Pakistan tour to England will be a big step towards revival of cricket after the pandemic. But there is still time left for these event and specially logistics and travelling of teams will be a challenging tasks and I think situation will be clearer in the coming months.”

Wasim said he is confident that Australia and England both will tour Pakistan in near future.

“At the moment our focus is England tour and we want to help ECB. And I think cricket fraternity should help each other in these tough times, we will discuss the possibility of England cricket team touring Pakistan in 2022. We already hosted the entire PSL V in Pakistan and Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in recent times and we are hopeful for Australia and England touring Pakistan in 2021 and 2022 respectively,” he concluded.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2020