Pakistan tour of England: Mouth-watering English cricket summer in prospect
The English cricketing season is going to be full of excitement with the prospect of some mouth watering action as the world’s top two team’s line-up for a Test and One Day International series at the home of cricket.
Australia and Pakistan are going to take part in the summer tournament in England which will be for the first time in hundred years that a neutral test series will be played in house of the English. Pakistan takes on the Aussies in two Test matches, which will be played at Lords and Headingly.
The two teams will also feature in a two match T20 series before the five-day test matches.
The Australians will also feature in a five match ODI series against hosts England, besides playing a one-off T20 against one Ireland.
The ODI series starts on the 22nd of this month at Southampton followed by the second match at Cardiff. The third match will be played on the 27th of June at Old Trafford in Manchester. It will be followed by the fourth ODI which will be played in South London at The Oval. The series will be rounded off at the Mecca of cricket at Lords on 3rd July.
After the ODI series, the Australians will focus on their favourite whipping boys Pakistan whom they have beaten in 12 consecutive tests, 6 consecutive ODI’s and three consecutive T20 matches.
The two teams will lock horns in the first of the two T20 games on the 5th and 6th of July at the Edgbaston in Birmingham.
The two tests between Pakistan and Australia will be staged in July, with the opening encounter at Lords from 13th July, followed by the series decider in Leeds starting on the 21st of July.
The Australians will head home after that which will signal the start of the duel between Pakistan and England in a series of four Tests’ and five ODI’s spread over two months.
The first test will be played from the 29th of July at Trent Bridge in Nottingham; the two teams will then head to Birmingham for the second test of the series that starts on the 8th of August.
The third match of the series will be staged at the Oval; followed by the five-dayers which will start on 18th August.
The fourth and final match of the series will take place at Lords from 26th August.
The test series will be followed by a two-match T20 series in which the matches will be staged in Cardiff and Wales on the 5th and 7th of September.
The 50-over format of the game will be the last act of what promises to be an engrossing summer, as England and Pakistan will take to the field for five rip-roaring encounters.
The matches will be staged on the 10th 12th, 17th, 20th and 22nd of September with the last two games set to be held under lights at Lords and Southampton respectively.
In the summer, Pakistan would be based in England for three months, and if the men in green put their act together, they are set to provide some top class cricket under the leadership of Shahid Afridi.
On the contrary, they have the potential to self-destruct and fold under pressure, and the lesser said about the controversies surrounding them, the better. Let us hope though that they are up for it this time round and make the English summer one to remember for their die-hard fans back around the world.
Tags: