LAHORE, Pakistan: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Saturday confirmed that 20 players and 11 player support personnel will travel on a Chartered Flight to Manchester on Sunday morning for a three-Test and three T20I series to be played in August and September 2020.
Upon arrival in Manchester, the squad will be transported to Worcestershire where they will undergo the England and Wales Cricket Board testing before completing their 14-day isolation period during which they will be allowed to train and practice.
The side will move to Derbyshire on July 13.
In a positive news, all 18 players and 11 player support personnel, who had tested negative for COVID-19 in the first round of tests on Monday, have again returned negative in Thursday’s retests.
Besides the 29 members, tests of fast bowler Musa Khan and Pakistan U19 captain and wicketkeeper Rohail Nazir, along with three other reserve players, were also conducted on Thursday and they have also returned negative.
As such, Musa and Rohail have been included in the first group of travelers, which is:
20 Players – 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, and Yasir Shah.
Zafar Gohar, the left-arm spinner who played an ODI in 2015, will join the side from England and will only be involved in pre-match preparations.
11 Player Support Personnel – Mansoor Rana (Manager), Misbah-ul-Haq (Head Coach), Younis Khan (Batting Coach), Mushtaq Ahmed (Spin Bowling Coach), Shahid Aslam (Assistant Coach), Abdul Majeed (Fielding Coach), Talha Butt (Team Analyst), Yasir Malik (Strength and Conditioning Coach), Dr Sohail Saleem (Team Doctor), Lt Col (retd) Usman Riffat (Security Manager) and Raza Kitchlew (Media and Digital Content Manager).
Cliffe Deacon and Waqar Younis will join the side directly from South Africa and Australia respectively while Shoaib Malik is expected to travel around July 24.
Following advice from leading sports science experts and as per the UK government regulations, players who have tested positive during the PCB testing process will be unable to travel on Sunday.
However, they will be sent to England as soon as their two tests return negative.
