ECB to fly Pakistan's Test and T20 teams via charter in July

MUMBAI: The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is planning to send a chartered airplane to Pakistan in July to help fly in a 25-man squad to the United Kingdom to play three Tests and three T20 internationals in August.
While the UK government has said that elite sport can return in June, without spectators, as England looks to start a delayed summer with cricket lined up against the West Indies and Pakistan at home, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will wait until they receive "advice" on the matter from their government.
Prior to Pakistan's visit, the West Indies will tour England for three Tests -- a series that was earlier scheduled to be played between June 4 and 29 but was postponed in the wake of the Covid crisis.
The West Indies cricket team will now land in England on July 1 to first undergo a two-week quarantine period before beginning with a 26-day series that is likely to stretch to August. Pakistan will be flown into the UK mid-July to under quarantine for a similar period and some time to warm up before the series begins in August.
The PCB, on Thursday, announced that Pakistan's Test and T20 squads will fly together as ECB makes all efforts to fly the teams in on charter, sanitised for all practical purposes.
"That's the reason, Pakistan's Test and T20 team will fly in and out together," sources in the know said.
The three Tests and three T20 Internationals between England and Pakistan were scheduled to be played between July 30 and September 20 which will now prolong for a week or more given the delay in the entire schedule covering England's 2020 summer.
In a hearing before the media committee a week ago, the ECB had admitted to possible losses in excess of UK 300m pounds should their home season be completely lost. While The Hundred -- ECB's newly proposed venture -- will not see the light of the day this year, West Indies and Pakistan touring England will make up pre-conceived losses going forward.
"A good reason why ECB won't mind spending the extra money on the charter," say those tracking developments.
PCB CEO Wasim Khan said on Friday that the ECB had detailed the provisions in a presentation and the board was preparing to fly the Pakistan teams based on the plans made available.
"From a manageability point of view, it makes sense for us and the ECB that the whole squad travel as one, so you create a bubble if you like around those players for the whole of the time that they are in England," Khan added.
Because of the tour getting delayed, and given the circumstances, there is likely to be a change in the venues for the tour, as against ones that were mentioned earlier in the released schedule.
"It is likely that the entire series will be played within two venues, in closed doors," sources in the know said. Manchester and Southampton are likely to be those venues except there's no official communication on it yet.