English players’ sickness may delay first Test

After a “viral infection” broke out among visiting cricketers, Pakistan and England agreed on Wednesday to delay the decision on commencing the historic first Test in Rawalpindi until Thursday (today) morning.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) made the decision based on medical advice from the England doctors, which revolved around the players’ health and welfare, a statement issued by the PCB said.

The two boards also agreed, subject to the England players not on recovering well enough to take the field on Thursday morning, the Test will begin on Friday and would remain a five-day affair.

Both the boards also established that the schedule of the second Test in Multan and the third Test in Karachi would remain unaffected.

Around half of the England players, including captain Ben Stokes, were struck down by an unspecified virus on Wednesday.

Former captain Joe Root told reporters that “a few guys were not feeling 100 per cent,” but did not provide details on individual players and possible changes to the starting XI.

“It’s hard to say, I haven’t seen anyone this morning,” he said, adding: “I don’t think it’s food poisoning or Covid or anything like that, it’s just one of those things that we have unfortunately picked up as a group.”

He further said: “I felt unwell yesterday and woke up feeling much better today, so hopefully it’s a 24-hour thing.”

The British press had earlier reported that players were suffering from viral food poisoning after the ECB issued a statement, saying that “several players and staff members, including captain Ben Stokes, are feeling unwell and have been advised to stay at the hotel to rest up”.

ECB spokesman Danny Reuben later clarified that “13-14 of the squad members, including six to seven players are suffering from a virus which is not related to food poisoning or Covid related”.

Root, Zak Crawley, Harry Brook, Ollie Pope and Keaton Jennings were the players at training on Wednesday, while head coach Brendon McCullum was also in attendance. All of the squad had trained on Tuesday.

England are on their first Test tour of Pakistan in 17 years, following their Twenty20 side playing seven matches in the country two months ago, taking the series 4-3.

Problems with food and players becoming ill during the Twenty20 series led to the decision to bring a chef, Omar Meziane, who also worked with the England men’s football team at the 2018 World Cup in Russia and at Euro 2020.

(With input from AFP)