The International Cricket Council (ICC) on May 16 announced T20 World Cup 2024 warm-up games schedule. The notable omissions from the schedule were England and Pakistan. While India are playing just one warm-up game against Bangladesh, England and Pakistan will play none before the marquee event at the USA and West Indies.
The reason behind defending champions England and Pakistan not playing a warm-up is the four-T20I series just before the mega tournament. The T20I series will begin on May 22 and end on May 30, a couple of days before T20 World Cup 2024 kicks off.
Several England players have already left the Indian Premier League (IPL) to prepare for the T20I series and others will follow as the league stages come to an end.
Keeping the travelling time in mind, both the teams will not have time to play the warm-up games. In order to avoid fatigue or any injuries, the two teams opted out of playing the warm-up games.
However, the ICC's media release mentions that the teams can choose to play warm-up matches depending on their date of arrival for the tournament.
“In a departure from the previous cycle, teams can now choose to play up to two warm-up matches, depending on their arrival time at the event,” the release said.
In addition, South Africa will not go up against another nation in their warm-up game. On May 29, they will play a warm-up game at Broward County Stadium, Florida.
The warm-up games will begin on May 27. There will be a total of 16 games played across five days.
The last warm-up game will be played between India and Bangladesh on June 1, the same day as the tournament opener between the co-hosts United States and Canada at Grand Prairie Stadium, Dallas.
England and Pakistan’s opening encounters –
Babar Azam's Pakistan are placed in Group A alongside India, Ireland, Canada and United States. They will face United States on June 6. Jos Buttler-led England are in Group B with Australia, Namibia, Scotland and Oman. England will go up against Scotland at Kensington Oval, Barbados on June 4.
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