Karachi: England will play three Tests against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates in October and November this year, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Thursday. The first match, starting on October 13, takes place at the Zayed Stadium Abu Dhabi, the second on October 22 is at the Dubai Cricket Stadium with the final match in Sharjah on November 1. There will also be four one-day internationals and three T20 Internationals. England lost a Test series 3-0 to Pakistan in the UAE in 2012. Pakistan have not played a series at home since militants attacked the Sri Lanka team in Lahore in March 2009. Zimbabwe were the first Test-playing team in six years to tour Pakistan in May, but top teams have continued to stay away because of the ongoing security risk in the country, which is battling an Islamist insurgency. The tour will begin with two warm-up games.
“We are most happy to be hosting England for the first series of our home season 2015-16. Like ever, with few exceptions since 1954, we expect this bilateral series to produce cricket of a very high standard,” said PCB chairman Shahryar Khan in a statement. Pakistan jumped to No.3 in Test rankings after defeating Sri Lanka 2-1 in the series last month while they also took an unbeatable 3-1 lead in the five-match ODI series after beating Sri Lanka by seven wickets on Wednesday in Colombo. “As is evident from our away wins in Sri Lanka, Team Pakistan are upwardly mobile and we hope that they would maintain this trajectory against England across the three formats,” Shaharyar added.
Commenting on the series, Tom Harrison, Chief Executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), said, “We are pleased to have agreed the schedule for this series with the Pakistan Cricket Board. Our last tour to UAE saw Pakistan win the Test series while we were victorious in both the ODI and T20 series. We expect this autumn’s tour will be equally hard fought and we trust that as many England fans as possible will make the trip to UAE to show their support for the team.”
Tour itinerary
30 September: England arrive
5-6 October: two-day match v Pakistan A in Sharjah
8-9 October: two-day match v Pakistan A in Sharjah
13-17 October: 1st Test in Abu Dhabi
22-26 October: 2nd Test in Dubai
1-5 November: 3rd Test in Sharjah
08 November: one-day practice match in Abu Dhabi
11 November: 1st ODI in Abu Dhabi
13 November: 2nd ODI in Abu Dhabi
17 November: 3rd ODI in Sharjah
20 November: 4th ODI in Dubai
23 November: T20 practice v UAE XI in Abu Dhabi
26 November: 1st T20I in Dubai
27 November: 2nd T20I in Dubai
30 November: 3rd T20I in Sharjah
01 December: England depart UAE
