LAHORE, Sept 8: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) excluded Sharjah Cricket Stadium while announcing on Thursday the schedule of the England series to be held at the neutral venues of the United Arab Emirates in January-February next year.

Pakistan will lock horns with England in three Tests, four One-day Internationals and three Twenty20 games. Three warm-up matches have also been allotted for the series.

Surprisingly, while the PCB has included Sharjah as a venue for the Sri Lanka series (comprising three Tests, five ODIs and one Twenty20) along with Dubai and Abu Dhabi, all 13 matches for the Pakistan-England series (including three warm-ups) have only been shared between Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

England might have refused to play any match in the Pakistan series at Sharjah venue, which has lost its reputation after hosting 196 ODIs from 1980s to 2003.

However, no prominent international match was staged in Sharjah since 2003, before Canada and Afghanistan played a two-match ODI series there last year. And now Pakistan have invited Sri Lanka to play a Test and an ODI there during theseries starting next month.

Meanwhile, the PCB has fully accommodated England on the tour, offering them two three-day warm-ups before the three-match Test series commencing on Jan 17.

The PCB, as the host, has also arranged a one-day warm-up match for England before the start of the four-match ODI series on Feb 13, followed by a three-match Twenty20 series starting on Feb 23.

Pakistan, currently sixth in ICC Test rankings, can expect a highly demanding competition in their series against England who have given scintillating performances in the ongoing series against 50-overs-a-side world champions India, clean-sweepingthe four-match Test rubber to claim the top spot in ICC rankings. The English, who have risen to new heights in Test arena in the last two-and-a-half years or so, then outgunned India in the lone T20 and the second ODI of the five-match series (first ODI abandoned due to rain).

Meanwhile, the cities for the three-day warm-up matches against England are yet to be decided.

Matches schedule:Jan 3: England team arriveJan 7-9: First three-day warm-upJan 11-13: Second three-day warm-upJan 17-21: First Test, DubaiJan 25-29: Second Test, Abu DhabiFeb 3-7: Third Test, DubaiFeb 10: One-day warm-up, Abu DhabiFeb 13: First ODI, Abu DhabiFeb 15: Second ODI, Abu DhabiFeb 18: Third ODI, DubaiFeb 21: Fourth ODI, DubaiFeb 23: First Twenty20, DubaiFeb 25: Second Twenty20, DubaiFeb 27: Third Twenty20, Abu Dhabi.