The latest in a long line of changes to the international cricketing schedule was announced this week, with England pulling out their while ball teams from playing in Pakistan. The tour was due to take place in October, and it would have signalled the first time that the England men had played in Pakistan since 2005, however, it will now not take place.
This is the latest in a long line of changes to the international cricketing schedule, which have caused chaos for almost two years now and really put an end to a regular run of competitive cricket for fans to enjoy. Those looking at games and trying to predict who will win so that they can visit the newest betting sites and place bets have seen big periods of time in between matches, making the form guide tougher to work out.
England Join New Zealand by Refusing to Play in Pakistan
The ECB are not the only governing board to pull their players out of a tour in Pakistan. Earlier this month, the same decision was made by the New Zealand cricket board, who pulled their team out of a series in Pakistan which was due to be played right now, ahead of England arriving to play.
Both teams have spoken about the uncertainty in the area right now, and New Zealand have cited a credible and specific threat that was made against them as being the reason why they have not travelled.
In terms of England, this is not the case, but the ECB have recognised that there are concerns that the situation in the region is getting worse. This has led to the ECB cancelling plans to travel for both the men’s and women’s teams, that were due to go to the country and play in simultaneous T20 games.
The games were set to take place on October 13 & 14, with one game for both the men and women on each day. After those games, the men were set to move on to the T20 World Cup, where they are one of the fancied teams in the tournament, which will now take place in the UAE and Oman.
We were set to see the women stay in Pakistan for a little longer, as they had three one day international planned for after the T20 games, as the England women look to tour and play more after the disruptive past 18 months.
Playing in the T20 World Cup shortly after is the main reason why the ECB are not prepared to send the men’s team to Pakistan. Having them in a confined bubble ahead of the World Cup, after doing it so much recently, is not the kind of preparation the team wants to have, with the added pressure and stress this brings.
It seems likely that England will now go straight to the T20 World Cup without international preparation games, which is certainly not the ideal way to arrive.