A 31-man Pakistani contingent, including 20 players, reached England on Sunday when six of their ten coronavirus-infected cricketers were detained, although they failed the second test. Pakistani cricketers and 11 support staff arrived on a charter flight from Lahore and are being transported to Worcestershire. Pakistani players and support staff came out with masks one after the other and kept their distance.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has made arrangements for their tests before going through a 14-day isolation period during which they are allowed to train. The team will move to Derbyshire on July 13 to prepare for their three test and three T20 series against the home team from August to September.
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Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Rizwan, Shadab Khan and Wahab Riaz tested negative in their second test, but would only be sent to England after two of their successive tests failed.
The six players will go through a third round of testing sometime next week. Players who tested positive again are Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Kashif Bhatti and Imran Khan and masseur Malang Ali. The fast bowler Musa Khan and the wicket keeper batsman Rohail Nazir, who were among the reserve players, reached here together with the team.
The players who arrived here on Sunday were Azhar Ali (captain), Babar Azam (vice captain), Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Iftikhar Ahmad, Imad Wasim, Imam-ul-Haq, Khushdil Shah and 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-wing spinner who played an ODI in 2015, will come to England from the side and will only be involved in the pre-game preparations.
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