ICC World Test Championship: Pakistan to tour England for three Tests in 2020 starting 3 July

Pakistan will tour England in 2020 to play three Tests as part of the World Test Championship. The tour will also include three T20Is and get underway on 3 July. Pakistan will thus play in England for a fifth successive summer and feature in a bilateral series every two years. Pakistan have played in England in 2016 (bilateral series), 2017 (Champions Trophy), 2018 (bilateral series), 2019 (bilateral series and World Cup) and are scheduled to do so for the next two years in 2020 (bilateral series) and 2021 (bilateral ODI series). [caption id=“attachment_5414011” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Mohammad Abbas took 10 wickets against England in the two-match Test series. AP File[/caption] The first Test will be played at Lord’s while the second Test is scheduled to be played in Manchester (from 7 August) and the final game will be hosted at Trent Bridge from 20 August. The three T20Is will be played on 29, 31 August and 2 September in Leeds, Cardiff and Southampton respectively. It was also confirmed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) that England’s return tour in 2022 will be played in October (featuring 3 ODIs) and in December (3 Tests). “This tour holds special significance since this will be Pakistan’s first-ever tour of England for World Test Championship matches,” Zakir Khan, PCB’s director of International cricket, said. “A tour of England tests the skills and limits of the visiting sides and I anticipate this tour to help Pakistan furnish their red-ball skills and also prepare them for the all-important ICC T20 World Cup in Australia latter in 2020.” “The PCB and the English and Wales Cricket Board enjoy an amicable relationship and this being Pakistan’s third bilateral tour of England in the last four years perfectly mirrors it. In 2010, the ECB provided the PCB facilities to host Australia in a two-match Test series.” In the last six Tests that Pakistan have played in England, they have won three. In the most recent series, played before the World Cup, England won the five-match ODI series 4-0 and the solitary T20I as well. Last year, in a two-match Test series, the scoreline read 1-1.