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The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and England Cricket Board (ECB) released a joint statement late on November 30 (Wednesday) pertaining to the start of the first Test between Pakistan and England after more than half of the England team was marred by a virus. Close to 13 to 14 members of the touring team are affected by the illness, with around half of that number members of the playing squad. Ben Stokes is among those affected, and it is believed to be a bug or virus rather than Covid. The first of three Tests will take place in Rawalpindi.
The statement noted that the final assessment of English players' health will be done on Thursday (December 01) morning.
"The Pakistan Cricket Board and England and Wales Cricket Board today discussed the outbreak of viral infection in the England men’s Test team camp and unanimously agreed to delay the decision on the commencement of the first Test, which is due to start on Thursday, until 0730 Pakistan time tomorrow (Thursday)," PCB said in a statement.
"The two boards made the decision based on medical advice from the England doctors, which revolved around the players’ health and welfare, agreeing that the England cricket team are able to select an XI for the first of the three ICC World Test Championship matches, which will be played at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.
The two boards also agreed, subject to the England players not recovering well enough to take the field on Thursday morning, then the Test will commence on Friday and will be a five-day match. In this scenario, the schedule of the second Test in Multan and the third Test in Karachi will remain unaffected and will be played as per original schedule i.e. 9-13 and 17-21 December, respectively," the statement added.
Stokes had named his nominal starting XI for the match, including handing a debut to Liam Livingstone and a first Test recall since 2016 for Ben Duckett, but his plans could be forced to change due to illness.
Meanwhile, the symptoms of those affected are not related to Covid-19 and the hope is there will be a recovery within 24 hours.
England have not named an official vice-captain during Stokes’ reign as skipper, though Pope led the team in Stokes’ absence in a warm-up game against England Lions last week.
The Test will be England’s first in Pakistan in 17 years after they halted touring the country following an attack by gunmen on the Sri Lanka team bus in 2009.
England first returned for a T20 series in September and November, winning 4-3.
Pakistan's squad: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (vc & wk), Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Azhar Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Naseem Shah, Nauman Ali, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel, Shan Masood, Zahid Mahmood.
England's squad: Ben Stokes (c), Ben Foakes (wk), Joe Root, James Anderson, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Keaton Jennings, Jack Leach, Liam Livingstone, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Mark Wood, Rehan Ahmed.
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