Pakistan Team To Arrive In UK On Sunday To Kickstart Preparations For England Tour: ECB

There is still a haze around the dates for the series which the ECB are planning to announce the behind-closed-doors schedule in "due course".

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The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has confirmed that the Pakistan cricket team will reach United Kingdom on Sunday to kick start their preparation for upcoming tour of England, that comprises of three Test matches and as many T20 internationals. This announcement from the English Cricket Board comes at the backdrop of as many as ten Pakistan players testing positive for COVID-19 just ahead of the series. However, there is still a haze around the dates for the series which the ECB are planning to announce the behind-closed-doors schedule in "due course". The 10 Pakistan players, including veteran all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez, who tested positive for the Covid-19 have been placed under home-quarantine and will not be part of the squad departing to the UK. The players who tested negative in the first round underwent a second round of testing on June 25 in Lahore, the results of which are awaited. "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. England are currently slated to face West Indies in the three-match Test series starting July 8 at the Ageas Bowl.