Mohammad Amir plays for Essex. (Source: Express Archive)
Pakistan Cricket Board sprung another surprise on Monday when it allowed the players recalled from the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and counties in England to return to the competitions. This comes after they had abruptly called its players back to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Lahore.
According to an ESPNcricinfo report, the main reason for the U-turn is though to be that postponement of the National T20 Cup which will now be played in November. But, the players still have to undergo fitness tests from August 22 to 24 before returning to their franchises in West Indies and England.
“The World XI series was not officially confirmed when we set the dates for our domestic tournament,” Sethi said in a press conference. “That series falls right in the middle of when our competition would have been played. Then there’s a by-election [on September 17 on the seat of now-disqualified prime minister Nawaz Sharif], and after that the team has to go to the UAE, so the competition was squeezed out. As a result, we have moved it to November. An added advantage of this arrangement is that our players who are taking part in the CPL and other county will be able to take full part in those tournaments. This will make the players happy too, as well as the CPL.”
Ten Pakistan players play in the CPL and will now have to play back after August 24. The PCB had even recalled three non-centrally contracted players. Kamran Akmal, Sohail Tanvir and Mohammad Sami, the three players with no central contract, now fly back to West Indies.
The three players in the English counties were Mohammad Amir, playing for Essex until September, Sarfraz Ahmed, playing for Yorkshire in the Natwest T20 Blast, and Fakhar Zaman, set to join Somerset.
