The cricketing action is currently stopped across the world, but soon it will start as England and West Indies are all set to face each other in a Test series which is scheduled to kick-off from July 8. Not only this, but there will also be more cricketing action in England as Pakistan cricket team have reached Manchester on Sunday night for their upcoming Test and T20I series against the hosts which will begin in August.
The 20-man Pakistan squad and 11 members of the support staff will stay in ‘bio-secure’ environment and will remain under quarantine for 14 days. Pakistan will lock horns with England in a three-match Test series followed by as many T20Is.
Recently, a lot of headlines captured the Pakistan camp ahead of their departure to England after PCB conducted COVID-19 tests of the players and support staff. As per the reports, ten players had tested positive for the deadly virus, including the likes of Mohammad Hafeez and Wahab Riaz.
However, six players out of the ten were tested negative on Saturday as well, but they will have to test negative at least twice in order to travel to England.
Also, the ten players who had tested positive for COVID-19 are currently not part of the Pakistan squad which reached England on Sunday. PCB via their official Twitter handle shared a video of the Pakistan team arriving in England.
Pakistan team arrival Manchester 🏴#ENGvPAK pic.twitter.com/FWWPtgUjEs
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) June 28, 2020
Now in England, the 31-member will stay in 14-day quarantine in Worcester before moving to Derbyshire’s County Ground. According to protocols, all the players and staff members will be once again tested by the England Cricket Board (ECB).
There had been a lot of confusion regarding Hafeez’s COVID-19 test as the veteran all-rounder first tested positive in a test conducted by PCB, but his report returned negative when he underwent a test at a different lab personally. He shared his negative result on Twitter which infuriated the PCB. The 39-year-old later tested negative in the second test carried out by PCB on Saturday.
Players who have reached England on Sunday are:
Azhar Ali (captain), Babar Azam (vice-captain), 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 Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Sohail Khan, Usman Shinwari, Yasir Shah.
