Pakistan will host England for seven T20Is ahead of the T20 World Cup in Australia but the English side could be without their multi-format players, Daily Mail reported.
Following the cancellation of their white-ball tour of Pakistan last year, England are set to tour Pakistan in September 2022 and play two additional T20Is, apart from the planned five-match T20I series initially.
The men’s side will then return to Pakistan again for a three-match Test series following the 2022 T20 World Cup.
England’s white-ball specialists will head over to Pakistan on September 15, 72 hours after the home series against South Africa concludes and then on to Australia for three further T20s to acclimatise for the World Cup.
As stated in the report, ‘Multi-format cricketers are likely to miss the Pakistan series in order to rest — as there is no let-up from the start of the T20 matches until December 22 — and will therefore travel directly to Australia on October 1.’
Shortly after the World Cup, England play Australia in an ODI series and after that series ends on November 22, England head over to Pakistan to participate in a three-Test series.
“The schedule is definitely something that needs looking at. It is ridiculous the amount of cricket people are expected to play. The fact there is a Test match and one-day series overlapping sums it up,” said the newly appointed England’s Test captain Ben Stokes.
“It really needs looking at from a workload point of view. I don’t want to miss England matches. I want to play as much as I can for England but in an ideal world you would not want to be having discussions about when you want to rest, you would have a schedule that allows you to play everything. Unfortunately, it is not possible,” he added.
