A couple of weeks ago, the red-ball head coach of the England side, Brendon McCullum, revealed that it would be hard for them to select a squad unless they knew the venues for their late-autumn Pakistan trip, as some of the news reported that after not being able to host the second Test in Karachi against Bangladesh, they were in plans to move the three-Tests in Abu Dhabi.
Later, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman, Mohsin Naqvi, admitted that they had discussed playing the three red-ball games across Multan and Rawalpindi, with the national stadium in Karachi being under renovation currently due to the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025.
That led the England Cricket Board (ECB) to select their squad under Ben Stokes for the three games, all of which would be part of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25. But now, the PCB’s challenges to finalize the schedule have drawn frustrations among the board and the Barmy Army, one of the passionate fans. The reports have claimed that the final schedule will released within the upcoming one or two days.
Frustrated ECB waits for final Test schedule in Pakistan
The England team, at the end of their 50-over series of five games against Australia, a home is expected to arrive in Pakistan in the first week of October, with the initial red-ball game scheduled to take place from October 7 to 11 at the Multan Cricket Stadium, while the second game is supposed to happen from October 15 at the National Stadium in Karachi.
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For the third and final game of the series, the teams were supposed to arrive in Islamabad as the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium was going to host the game from October 24. With Karachi not being prepared and the Gaddafi stadium in Lahore finding itself in the same situation, the Pakistani board has found some complications in finalizing the schedule.
The situation has gone from bad to worse with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, which is going to take place between October 15 and 16. The heads of state from various countries will be attending the function, leading to huge security and accommodation being required in the cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
This has led to the issue of hosting the second game in Rawalpindi. The Barmy Army and the ECB have been disappointed with the current state of the series, as they are left with a limited time to arrange travel and accommodation for their trip.
There was a point when the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was considering shifting the series to Sri Lanka or the United Arab Emirates before Naqvi confirmed that the series would only take place in their country.
The international cricket department of their board is yet to form the new schedule, as the sources suggested that the options are in consideration include hosting the first and second Test in Multan or moving the first and third games to Rawalpindi. Faisalabad, which is currently hosting Pakistan’s Champions Cup, wasn’t reviewed as a potential venue by the ECB during their inspection in August canceling that option.
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Sri Lanka is supposed to play a white-ball series at home against West Indies during the period, making it hard for them to host another two international teams for three Test matches. While in the UAE, South Africa is going to play the ODI series against Afghanistan and Ireland before the T20 World Cup 2026 begins.
The Pakistan board officials stated that they had been working hard to solve the scheduling problems, with the final result expected to come in the next 24 to 48 hours.
